Tattoos and photographs are very similar, both are a type of art. You can choose what photograph hangs above your fireplace and you can choose what ink occupies your body. Scars and photographs are also very similar, both can be a reminder of an uncontrollable event. 9/11 was an uncontrollable event that wounded people physically and mentally. The photograph “The Falling Man” is an image that is astonishing, but also reveals the harsh truths of 9/11. Showing this photograph to people affected by 9/11 would be like pouring salt into an open wound, it might seem like a great idea, but it will only leave a bigger scar.
On 9/11 I was in the hospital getting surgery on my neck. The surgery left a nice scar. It is a constant reminder of what happened that day. I will never forget waking up in the hospital and being scared. The hospital was at a standstill when I woke up. Everyone was watching the towers fall on CNN. I was ten years young at the time.
The morning of the surgery, I was as nervous as a person about to jump out a window. I double checked everything. I checked to make sure my double stuffed Oreos (favorite thing to eat after surgery) and my toe socks (which I wear every surgery) were packed. After surgery, my feelings about going into surgery made me sick. I should have gone into the surgery carless, like a business person walking to work, because that morning was not the last morning of my life.
For Norberto Hernandez, a pastry chef at the Twin Towers, that was the “last morning of his life.” After reading and viewing “The Falling Man” by Tom Junod, I was shocked by the journalist’s approach towards the Hernandezs family. To identify the man in the photo, the journalist showed the photo,The Falling Man, to the family. At the time I am sure the journalist was not thinking about how this would effect the family, just like the photographer was not thinking about how his photographs would effect the public. As quoted in “The Falling Man”:
“One never knows when history is made until one makes it.”
History shapes the present. Photographs capture a surreal moment in the past. Scars represent past struggles. Tattoos represent moments we do not want suppressed.
Journalism Classes 