Generation Shaped by 9/11 Shares Its Stories

Attacks ended 'carefree innocence' for many kids approaching adolescence

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 11, 2009 6:33 AM CDT

(Newser) – The September 11 attacks are as defining a moment for the generation starting college this year as the Kennedy assassination was for their parents, Peggy Noonan writes in the Wall Street Journal. For people young enough to still be children at the time but old enough to know what was going on, it was a "life-splitting event" that marked the end of carefree days and changed them more than they might realize, writes Noonan, who spoke to a group of students about their experiences.

"I would say it made everything real to a 12-year-old. It showed the world could be a dangerous place when for my generation that was never the case," says one student who was in 7th grade at the time. "As a small child you felt safe, but after 9/11, I don't think I personally will ever feel 100% safe," says another, who was haunted by nightmares long afterwards. He was moved, he says, by those who rose up to fight terrorism after 9/11, and believes the existence of such people means there's always hope.

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (2)]

A fiery blasts rocks the World Trade Center after being hit by two planes September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Getty Images)

A viewer passes in front of a child's drawing portraying the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center at an art exhibition of September 11-related children's art. (Getty Images)

The "Tribute in Light" marks the September 11 anniversary in New York two years ago. (AP Photo/Tim Larsen)

Smoke billows from the World Trade Center's twin towers after they were struck by commerical airliners in a suspected terrorist attack September 11, 2001 in New York City. (Getty Images)

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I remember when the millennium came people said 'new time, new world,' but 9/11 was the 'new time, new world.' I understood it was something big, something that changed the world.
- Robbie, a college freshman
who was 10 years old on 9/11

I went to my art period and I remember my art teacher sitting there with her hands on her face just bawling, she was so frightened.
- Simon, who was 12 on 9/11

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Generation Shaped by 9/11 Shares Its Stories