On the 22nd Anniversary of 9/11
Dear Riverton community,
Happy Monday. Today, 9/11 is a day of remembrance for many of us. It’s hard to believe how much has changed since that fateful day in 2001 (https://mybetterdoctor.com/2013/02/22/diary-of-a-disaster-a-nonfiction-account-of-9-11-and-its-aftermath/) . I was in New York the day the planes struck the towers and saw my city transformed in unimaginable ways. More than two decades later, I still think of that Wednesday, 9/12/2001, as I walked around Manhattan.
“The posters on the streets offered words of support, pleas for the return of loved ones, and a “This too shall pass” that seemed tragic, if true. That somehow life would go on normally after this catastrophe seemed as tragic as if it wouldn’t.”
Since then New York has recovered, and not so much gone back to what it was, but continued to grow and transform. New disasters have struck. Not the least of which is the pandemic we’ve all endured (https://mybetterdoctor.com/2023/07/12/from-crisis-to-health-lessons-from-the-pandemic/). And now, safely (or not?) but definitely firmly, in post-pandemic times, it is remarkable how much life has gone “back” to normal. But it hasn’t really. There is never a going back. There is only a moving forward and new boulders and new paths in our ebb and flow.
We move through the seasons of our lives and the seasons of our days swept in the current of history. Each new generation is born and we all believe the world starts with us. It takes time for us to recognize cycles, to make sense of the world. “We all look for meaning in our suffering,” one of my college professors told us, and it is that creation of meaning, adaptation, and rebuilding that moves us forward and keeps us going. We aren’t strong because we stoically plant a pole in the ground and stand thick and solid, immobile, resisting the forces around us. Even the strongest parts of us, our bones, are not solid. Our bones are constantly shaped – eaten up (by osteoclasts) and built up (by osteoblasts) in a dynamic, adaptable way. Lose the bone eating osteoclast activity and you get osteopetrosis: thick, dense, hard bones that are MORE prone to fractures.
In the end, it is our flexibility and adaptability that is our true strength. Our ability to come together, to move forward, to think in new ways and stay connected. And that’s the other thing I remember so vividly in those early days after 9/11. The connection – how the cafes and restaurants of Manhattan were overflowing with everyone, all of us, out there with everyone else. Finding meaning in our connections. How everyone stepped up and volunteered, to be there, to witness, to help and be helped at all once.
And so, on this day, and every day, I think of how important the people in our lives are. All of you, there for each other, for our patients, and for your families – the connections that endure and build us up. The relationships that give our lives joy, meaning and purpose. The kindness that helps us find meaning in our suffering and helps us move forward.
Denitza P. Blagev, MD
mybetterdoctor 
I grew up in NY but was in SLC at the time. I remember doing my morning workout routine on my elliptical, and seeing something strange on the TV that looked like a bizarre accident. I then stayed riveted to the TV all day long. It has affected us in so many ways and galvanized us to action, some actions which were indeed terrible. The irony is that we are faced with a far more dangerous enemy than Osama bin Laden and that is of course, the climate emergency. What will it take to galvanize us into action about that?