The Most Amazing 9/11 Photograph I've Seen

The blog Iconic Photos, which is always thoughtfully good, has some amazing photographs from 9/11 that I've never seen before, including the one below. This is one of the most startling photographs I have ever seen, and even though it's difficult to look at I don't think it's in bad taste or should be hidden away, or even come with a warning.

I feel ten different things at once when I see this photograph, and after discovering it yesterday I feel them all over again now that I'm writing this. This is the reality of what happened. Before I saw this photograph I knew that, on some level.... I'm sitting here now trying to figure out what to write next, and I just don't know. I think that's why this photograph is necessary.

"The Hand, 9/11" by Todd Maisel

It is a shame our media almost always suppress these kinds of photographs, whether they're from 9/11 or the wars that America wages and that are suffered on all sides. (This particular picture was taken by Todd Maisel and appeared in the New York Daily News, and was thoroughly criticized.) Of course, the media is effectively forced to do this by public reaction and public expectations. Which it unfortunate, because I think photographs like this one have a lot to teach, and not just the obvious things, either. (Or even the things that occur to me.)