An Apology for “Tumbling Woman”

With plans for the 9-11 site moving forward, I would like to make a suggestion for a centerpiece in the memorial section. One thing I wanted to happen to the site is already in the works: I felt the only proper response to the terrorist attacks was to build a new building that was even bigger than the twin towers – bigger than any building in the world. The 1776 foot (what a poetic height) tower designed to replace the twin towers fits the bill beautifully. The second thing I felt we needed to do was to have some sort of work of art that would forever remind us of what happened there. That has already been made – in 2002.
I have only seen Eric Fischl's "Tumbling Woman" statue on T.V., but I was astonished by it nonetheless. It is one of the most beautiful, moving, and appropriate works of art one could make in tribute to the victims of the twin towers. It is beautiful, moving, and appropriate because it is tragic. And tragic art is the only form of art that is appropriate in dealing with what happened on September 11th.
We Americans are used to thinking that good necessarily leads to good, and bad necessarily leads to bad. The good guy always wins, because he is good and does good. The villain always loses because he is evil and does evil. But what happens when good deeds, intentions, ideas, or decisions lead to bad consequences? Or what if you are not presented with a good decision at all? What happens when good people have to, due to the circumstances, make bad choices? We get tragedy. Such was the decision of those who jumped from the Trade Center towers. Faced with burning to death or falling to their deaths, many chose to fall. "Tumbling Woman" is a tribute to that terrible choice too many were forced to make.
The main objection people have made about the sculpture is that it is upsetting, that it disturbs those who see it. Good. That, after all, is what tragic art is supposed to do. It is meant to make us live (or, in this case, relive) strong emotions in a safe place so, in the future, should we be faced with such strong emotions (again), we will have learned how to more properly and appropriately deal with them. Tragedy is one of the strongest ways art can help us develop ourselves emotionally. By being exposed to this sculpture, we could be reminded of those emotions we felt when we saw the attacks and their aftermath unfolding, in a safe and healthy manner. It provides us with an emotional education, which will make us react to such emotions in the future in a more healthy manner. It will make us better people, stronger and healthier people. More heroic even than many were in the midst of the attacks. We cannot make what happened go away by getting rid of or hiding this sculpture. By even wanting to do so, we are in open denial. We are trying to suppress these feelings that we should feel, and that is unhealthy. We are trying to forget, and we should not.
I understand why people are upset over this sculpture. You should be. Actually, it should not be the sculpture that you should be upset at, but everything it manages to so beautifully represent. You should be upset at people being forced to choose between burning to death in an inferno caused by bad men flying planes into our tallest buildings, and jumping to their deaths. But denying those emotions is unhealthy. What "Tumbling Woman" manages to do, using the beauty and magnificence of tragedy, is allow us to deal with these emotions in an open, healthy manner. If it were possible, everyone should see it, gaze at it, contemplate it. Perhaps the 9-11 Memorial at the former World Trade Center site would be a good home for it. That way, we could all take it into our hearts and souls and learn, through it, the life lessons it can teach us, that tragedy alone can teach us about the world.