Falling

I've just been watching an hour or so of The Falling Man - the story of one photograph taken on 9/11, chosen by one newspaper to represent the horror of the attack on the World Trade Center and then, strangely, disappearing. This image of one man who had jumped from a window high in the tower to avoid the unspeakable horrors of fire and smoke was remarkable in that in this one of many frames taken of his descent he appeared composed and - to quote the film - "almost zen-like". It was replaced in the media by more obviously heroic images of firefighters and rescuers toiling in the wreckage, and America seemed to turn away from the knowledge that people had chosen to jump from the buildings.

I find this very strange. I think there are big bits of the American psyche I don't get, to do with the flag and invincibility and emotional reactions and self-image as a nation. But admitting vulnerability might make a difference in all sorts of ways.