I watched the voyeuristic documentary "The Falling Man" on Channel 4 tonight, which set out to discuss the images of the people who fell or jumped from the Twin Towers on 11/9 and to attempt to identify the man in the most famous photo which was in all the papers the next day and then "never shown again" - you know, until now.
The programme more or less managed to work out who the unfortunate plummeting soul was, but then after interviewing his mother concluded that it is better not to identify the individual, because it is his anonymity that makes the photograph so powerful. But given that they had essentially identified him this seemed a bit of a fudge. They really wanted to show how much detective work had gone into finding out who this man was, but now wanted to say it's better that he remains an unnamed reprentation of this terrible day. If that's your conclusion then you can't show all the stuff that went before.
Initially the man investigating the falling man had concluded he might be a different man and he'd tracked down the family who had been somewhat ripped apart by the revelation. Some of them felt that by "jumping", if he had, then the man had committed suicide and this meant that he could not go to Heaven.
Surely it would be a harsh and pedantic God who followed his own rules quite so far to the letter. Let's suppose the man did jump, which isn't absolutely given, but seems likely. He was making a choice between being burnt to death/being asphyxiated or falling to his demise. To be frank I would think this was an instinctive response and not something that was consciously considered. I think if you couldn't breathe where you were your instincts would take over and you'd head for the fresher air and the logic of it all wouldn't matter. Similarly if you're about to be burnt by a fire and the only way to escape is by going out the window then you're going to go out the window. You just are. That's not suicide. It's certainly not any more suicide than staying inside and getting burnt up or asphyxiated. You might argue that by jumping you are prolonging your life by a few seconds in fact, so if you were going to believe that God would punish someone for getting caught up in horrendous events like this, then surely it's all the people who stayed inside who are going to Hell.
I am not trying to make light of the events of 11/9 (well OK, slightly by insisting on calling it by my own name, but that joke is about me, not about the people who died), I am just amazed that anyone could look at such a thing happening and decide that the falling person would be going to Hell for making a choice (if they even consciously did) about the manner in which you die. Like God would be angry - "I wanted you to be all burnt up, that was the destiny I had in mind for you and you ruined it by jumping out the window."
It turned out not to be that guy after all, so his family can be relieved that he died inside and thus goes to Heaven. And in fact this revelation was a relief to them and helped them get on with their lives. You'd think maybe the blokes doing the research into this might have thought - "Oh look what a mess of that family was made by suggesting that that was their relation. Maybe it's best if we just leave this figure as an anonymous and powerful representation of the terrible tragic human loss of that day." But no. They pressed on. Determined to get a name. Even though ultimately they would conclude it's best not to have a name. But good to have one anyway. Then everyone is happy. Right?
The mother of the likely person was also religious, but she bore the revelation with great dignity. Mainly in her (and the programme's) conclusion that it was irrelevant who the person was and that they shouldn't be idenified. But also in that she could look at that person and not assume they were going to Hell for their evil suicidal actions. She suggested that maybe the person's faith was so strong that they believed that if they jumped, God would somehow protect them and guide them to safety.
Of course that wasn't what happened and in a sense it's as foolish a notion as believing that God would punish you for acting in this way, but it does demonstrate the different ways people can use and express their religious beliefs. If I was going to be religious I'd rather have the grace of the second mother.
While you're alive there is always hope.
