of jumpers and that damning decision

Sept 11.
just that day, i happen to chance upon this documentary about jumpers from the Sept 11 incident.
and as i saw person after person cartwheeling, tumbling through the air, there was this clutch and ache in my left chest.
and you can't help but imagine the thoughts that ran through their minds as they plunge slowly but surely to the grounds.

some say that those were so brave, so courageous to choose this form of death.
to be able to stand at the window of the 110th floor, glance down and think, "i rather die jumping, my own form of death, than stay here and burn to death.", and then follow through with it and jump, flying throught the turbulence, tumbling, and the inevitable meeting fo the hard ground.
and on the way down, did they regret their decision?
a whole agonizing 10-second worth of free-falling, with no parachutes strapped to your back, no giant air mattress to break your fall.

that 10-second-wait is that culmination of their lives.
to go out oh-so-gloriously, oh-so-sensationally and oh-so-damning.