The September 11th Generation
Posted in Current Events and tagged with College, Generation, Memories, September 11, Terrorism on September 11, 2009
A few weeks ago when I talked about the end of this decade, I mentioned how it didn’t have a name. That got us talking about not only the name for the decade, but for my generation. Names like “The Digital Generation,” “The Entitled Generation,” and “Generation Y” were thrown out. While I had to agree with some of the things you were saying, they also hurt. They were true, but not the whole truth.
One thing that I have always felt has defined my generation in part is the tragic cruelty of September 11. Yes, this has affected all Americans, but for the younger generation, it defined our childhood, our teenage years, our early adulthood. For me, the greatest act of terrorism on American soil happened three weeks after I went to college, moved out from my parents’ home, and started thinking seriously about what career I’d pursue. If something that huge didn’t affect me and those of my generation, it’d be shocking.
And though the influence of that tragic day 8 years ago can’t be measured (after all, who’s can say what we might have been like otherwise?), I know that the influence is there.
I remember. More importantly, we remember.
Photo by NJ Scott
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September 11th, 2009 at 1:07 am
it was a defining moment. i can’t remember hardly anything from 8 years ago, but i can tell you almost every detail of that day. it will definitely stay with me a long time.
on a side note, i think people have started calling the 00′s the naughts…..not sure why LOL
September 11th, 2009 at 2:51 am
I agree. I think there’s a lot to be said about “Millenials” (which I’m never quite sure if I fit into that bracket or not), and most of it is said by older generations and most of it is negative. That’s not to say it’s not deserved or true. But a lot of the time I just want to say back, “and whose FAULT is it? Why are you blaming us for all these faults you see in us? YOU made us this way! You raised and educated us, it’s your example we follow and react to…” but I never actually say it. I just think it.
In reply to the above side note, I have a friend who is very sad to see 2010 because he’s consistently said “It’s Aught-Seven” etc. for the last decade. He calls it his throwback to 1901. :)
September 11th, 2009 at 7:38 am
yes, I remember…we have so much for which to be thankful. What difference does it make, what you are called. We are living in the USA…We are USAns.
September 11th, 2009 at 7:57 am
I think it is up to your generation (and every generation) to grow up and be responsible for themselves no matter what example or upbringing they had. You are doing a great job with that, Ronnica. :)
Thanks for the reminder today. Abby was just born 11 days earlier on Aug. 31 when I was sitting in the kitchen with her, about to send Ted and Emily off to the museum, and saw the first plane hit the towers. Could never, ever forget that.
September 11th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I definitely remember throughout the year. I have been to Ground Zero several times, and it’s always such a solemn experience.
September 11th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
We have pictures taken from Liberty Island just 13 months prior to the attacks. We still lived in NJ and were getting ready to move to Illinois, just on the other side of St. Louis.
Having four small children, homeschooling, a husband in the military…watching the tower fall on television…images that are forever ingrained in my mind…explanations that are so difficult for children to understand. It’s hard enough for us to wrap our minds around it. My husband and other people I knew going overseas to places they never would have otherwise gone.
It shaped and changed us all.
September 11th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Camile has a wonderful follow-up post to this one. She says,
“Though I did not lose anyone in the September 11th attack, we discovered my aunt was fine a few days later, we (young Americans) all lost something: our naive faith that everything was right and good in the world. For the first time in our history, America was not all powerful and untouchable, we could be gotten to, our world could be rocked. We watched the people of Iraq and Afghanistan hold signs that cursed our nation and our people. How could we not be changed?”
Read the whole post on her blog:
http://classroomconfessions.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/where-were-you/
Valentine: I’ve not heard that!
Chere: I think that a lot, too. Each generation is responsible for their own sins, but I believe that much of what we’ve done has been a poor response to the generations before us.
Cheryl: Yes, and thank you.
September 15th, 2009 at 12:37 am
I think I truly became an American that day.