I’ve often thought about what makes people jump in a fire. It’s because they know they’re going to die. They have no more air, they’re suffocating, they’re burning. If they’re going to die, they might as well die quickly and cleanly. “Jumpers” are not depressives, they’re rational people. They’ve weighed the pros and the cons and prefer the dizzying freefall to being burned alive. They choose the swan dive, the vertical farewell. They have no illusions, even if some try to use a jacket as a makeshift parachute. They take their chances. They escape. They are human because they decide to choose how they will die rather than allow themselves to be burned. One last manifestation of dignity: they will have chosen their end rather than waiting resignedly. Never has the expression “freefall” made more sense.