We the people will not forget
by Dean Clara Spatafore
When I was a child everyone would talk about where they were and what they were doing when our president John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas. As an adult these memories have been replaced by where were you and what were you doing when the 9/11/2001 attacks occurred? It was a Tuesday and I vividly remember watching the horrifying scenes on a television in the Ophthalmology Department at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, next to the dental clinic where I practiced at the time.
The terror attack was carried out by an Al-Qaeda group under the orders of Osama bin Laden and killed close to 3,000 people including the 19 terrorists. Four planes were hijacked, two crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon and one onto a field in Pennsylvania. That evening President George W. Bush delivered a televised address from the Oval Office declaring, “Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.”
To this day, there are negative consequences to those horrible crimes committed against our country on that day. Over 10,000 of first responders and people working or living near Ground Zero were diagnosed with 9/11 related cancer. There was an immediate effect on the U.S. Economy with the markets falling 7% in one day. The heaviest losses were jobs in finance and air transportation. The damage to the World Trade Center was $60 billion with $750 million for the clean-up.
Operation Enduring Freedom, the American-led international effort to remove the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and put an end to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network based there, began on Oct. 7, 2001. Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Forces in May 2011 and the troops remained in Afghanistan until August 2021. There is a memorial at the World Trade Center Site, one at the site in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.
The impact of the attacks has had a ripple effect and been slow to dissipate. Years later the citizens of the United States reflect on the fact that their lives were changed in major ways. They are more distrustful, more afraid, more careful and more vulnerable. Our home is no longer the safe haven we thought it was, airports have drastically changed their way of doing business, buildings have turned into fortresses, support for military involvement in foreign countries has waned, however, defending our country from future terrorist attacks is still a priority with the president and congress.
For most of us old enough to remember, 9/11/2001 is a day that is impossible to forget. We came together as a country with spirit, unity as well as in sorrow and mourning. We witnessed bravery, we saw patriotism, we felt the strong support from the rest of the civilized world, as well as intense backing for our president and military. The public set aside political differences and rallied behind the government leadership, people turned to religion and restored faith in huge numbers. To quote Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
On this solemn day let’s all commemorate the victims of 9/11. Observe a moment of silence, join a stair climb event where they honor the 343 first responders who gave their lives to help others, find somewhere to share your talents and volunteer at an event. Last but certainly not least I end this blog with a quote from President Barack Obama, “We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.”
Clara M. Spatafore D.D.S., M.S.
Interim Dean VCU School of Dentistry
Chair Department of Endodontics and Oral Diagnostic Sciences
Diplomate American Board of Endodontics