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Many thanks to everyone who has read and commented on "The Falling Man" over the last two days. But I'd like to answer a concern that I've seen expressed in a few tweets -- the concern that the photo & story inflict trauma on families already traumatized by loss. 1/
Most people who see the photo presume what we did when we started reporting — that the identity of the Falling Man must be clear to someone. We talked to 100 people, and this turns out not be true. 2/
What gives the photo and story their power is that we have a good idea of who The Falling Man miight be, but no certainty. And it’s the lack of certainty that makes him representative of so many of the thousands who lost their lives that day. 3/
The story taught me something that’s been borne out many times since. There’s an idea that those who have suffered trauma want to keep the sources of their trauma secret. What I’ve found is that what traumatized people want — deserve — is the truth. 4/
The story addresses what I thought was a prevailing prejudice about 9/11 — that there was a “good way” to die. There was no good way to die. There were just good people who died, victims of a terrible crime. 5/
Peace to all the men & women who fell, and their famiiles. And thanks. 6/6
