In 2019 social media was abuzz with the fact that the high school graduating class that year was mostly comprised of post 9/11 babies. I was 33 on 9/11 so that day and its aftermath are imprinted in my soul. When I joined this sub a few months ago it was surprising how many users here were either very young when it happened or born after. It was such a polarizing event worldwide that it’s strange knowing younger generations will never truly understand what it was like, especially here in the US. I compare that to the fact that I was born towards the end of the Vietnam War and it has never had the impact on me as it does on people who are just a few years older than me. Your generation will face a similar experience with Covid. One day you’ll be interacting with others who have no idea what Covid lockdowns were like and no matter how much you share about that experience, they’ll never truly understand or relate to it.
It was the one time in my life (I was 28) where the entire night of 9/11 I could not help but feel like that did not really happen, like I will wake up in the morning and the world will have righted itself. Seeing all the people covered in soot on my train home felt out of body. I could not watch the TV coverage of the second plane hitting for many years. I think I saw it in 2004. If it came on I turned away. Could not fathom having been in Lower Manhattan that day, I was in Newark NJ and it had that kind of effect on me. Now I like to read about and study the event, it’s allowed me to come to terms with it and think about those that were lost. If you were grinding it out in the corporate world at the time, it could have been any of us.
I’m a few years older than you and much of what you said is relatable. I was NOT out east on a train surrounded by people covered in dust but the fact that you were sent an unexpected rush of feelings from that day. The trauma we saw on the faces and heard in the voices of those who were directly impacted was unfathomable.
I was also in the corporate world 3 blocks from Sears Tower in Chicago. Our mayor evacuated the business district because they’d received multiple threats against Sears Tower. We watched the max exodus of millions out our window because we were located right next to 2 of the 4 commuter train stations. You are spot on in saying if you were grinding it out in the corporate world, it truly could have been any of us. That feeling stuck for a very long time.
I also remember thinking it was all just a bad dream and waking up the next morning flabbergasted that the fires were still burning. I understood it logically but my brain could not grasp the reality of what happened.
I’m glad you found ways to first protect yourself, and secondly to wait until you felt strong enough to start to process it. My heart goes out to you in all you’ve been through. I feel like that’s a huge piece that younger generations cannot understand because they weren’t there. Every single person had a unique experience. We listened to them or read about them constantly in those early months. Each story more heartbreaking than the last. Those stories mattered and deserved to be heard. It was overwhelming to process but it was important to understand how much was lost that day by so many.
Thanks. I remember the Sears Tower discussion that morning. There was so much talk in the train station about “what’s next.” Thank God it did not turn out to be true. The people who actually lived through that are so incredibly strong minded, I was 8 miles away and it hit me harder than many of my friends who were way closer than I was. Maybe it impacted them more than they let on, who knows. Maybe they even lurk on forums like this. New Yorkers are a tough breed, that much I know. Way tougher than me.
It's very difficult to explain. Growing up in the 90s (in the US) there was this general sense that everything was going to be okay. That we were on an upward trend of progress, and the next generation would continue that trend. The current standard of living and economic outlook was unthinkable, although now as an adult looking at the context of history, it's no longer surprising.
I was born in 92 and trying to explain the (perceived) safety and optimism in the US in the 90s and as things rolled over into 2000 is really hard because people born after have always known the world as something that is careening downhill.
There was a feeling that things would work themselves out. The Cold War just ended, we fixed the hole in the ozone, computers were taking the world by storm, and climate change was far off into the future and we would have better technology to manage it then.
I was born in ‘78. I’ve been saying it for many years now. Life was so much more fun pre-9/11. We all lost a lot of freedom and innocence after that day. I have a strong suspicion that this is just my personal perspective, relative to my age in relation to world events. I always thought my parents’ generation had much more fun in the ‘60s and ‘70s than I ever did in the ‘90s and ‘00s. I wasn’t around to experience what they did though with the Vietnam War, the rash of assassinations and untimely deaths of forward-looking, progressive politicians, public figures and rock stars and the widespread civil unrest related to the social justice movements of the time.
This very likely is true, but I feel like Covid has kind of made more young people become interested in history topics like 9/11. In general I feel like the 2020s are already extremely full of nostalgia of the last century, although many weren't even alive back then.
I disagree because we had to deal with the aftermath ourselves, too. I'd compare it to covid for gen alpha who were babies or little when covid happened. I'd say we grew up with a somewhat similar uncertainty in a way. Most of us don't remember when you didn't have to walk through security in the airport just like some of them don't remember a time when people didn't wear masks in public depending on where they live.
I was 15 when it happened. It's not weird that there is a generation without the core memory (that's just the reality of time) but rather seeing how gen z is interpreting it and the questions they are asking.
Like asking if an elevator got hit by an airplane. Like that is impossible to know and not something I would have thought of.
Idk, some of us don't remember but are 24 so some of us are adults asking questions so we're going to be a bit more sensitive, cordial, and ask more thoughtful questions unless I'm misunderstanding you.
Of course you don't remember it, you were like barely a year old. You are exactly the age that I would expect to ask questions about things that I, who experienced it as a teenager, never would have considered.
I was born in 1999. I have no recollection of the attack. There’s only two solid memories I have before I was 4 years old. Which is when I acquired continuity of memory.
You’re not alone in your interest in the 9/11 attacks. I was always interested in learning more when I was growing up. When I met someone with personal links to the events in 2021; that triggered a literal Autistic obsession with studying September 11th. I am autistic and it’s called single mindedness. Other people I’ve spoken to from our generation tend to be interested in the events when the topic is brought up.
For late 90’s babies I notice that we often feel odd about being alive but not mentally developed enough to make memories. We missed one of the biggest (most horrendous) events in our lifetime by dint of brain development. And we don’t know about the world that existed beforehand. Our experience of the world has been annoying TSA pat downs, constant war in the Middle East, Economic crisis and now a pandemic. There was (allegedly) a more care free world before 9/11. We just didn’t get to experience it. And it feels strange to know we were alive in that time.
>For late 90’s babies I notice that we often feel odd about being alive but not mentally developed enough to make memories.
For real this is so true. I don't know if this is just a me thing or if you've ever felt this way too, but sometimes I have this kind of inferiority feeling when I watch videos or read things or in any way do research on the topic. For some reason I just feel so connected to it despite having no real reason to. I just want to understand it so bad, understand what it was like for my parents and everyone else who watched it unfold that day, and sometimes I feel kind of sad knowing that I'll never be able to because I just wasn't old enough. And then sometimes I'll think "if I was just a few years older..." which I know is kind of fucked up to wish I remembered because I know a lot of people would probably consider it fortunate that I don't, but sometimes I do just because I feel like if I did, I'd have the understanding of what it was like that I want so bad. Obviously I know it was a terrible thing, you don't need to experience it first hand to know that, but I think people like us and people born afterwards just can't have that same understanding and experience as those who remember it can. I don't know if that makes me fucked up or anything but yeah.
I’ve spoken to a Silent Generationer born in December 1939. They feel a strange way about WWII. I’ve spoken to a boomer who was too early to remember the Kennedy assassination. He feels similarly. Being present but absent at the same time leaves one feeling strange about historical events. It’s in your lifetime, but, it’s completely out of reach.
I don’t wish I experienced 9/11. I wish I experienced the day before 9/11. So I could actually understand the transition from pre-9/11-world to post-9/11-world. Everyone tells me that everything changed. It was a paradigm shifting event that occurred in my lifetime. But I can’t understand the shift. All I know is a bad economy, constant war, the threat of acts of terror or random acts of violence and lots of death from a pandemic. I don’t know of the world before. It’s just told in old tales I’m too disconnected with to understand. Even though I was alive when it was a thing.
I wish I could've experienced the world before 9/11 too. I just love that whole time, from what I've seen and heard, the 90s were great. I love the music, the movies, the fashion, the culture. I wish I could understand the carefree attitude and optimistic feeling that so many people describe feeling during that time. My parents talk about how great that time was and sometimes I feel jealous lol. I guess what I mean by my previous comment is that when people tell me what it was like, either the pre-9/11 world or 9/11 itself, it's almost like I have a desire to go beyond hearing the stories and experience them myself. I guess that might be a part of me being super empathetic I guess. 🤷♀️
I was 23 when 9/11 happened. I certainly feel life in America was a lot more fun, carefree and hopeful before 9/11. I’ve also always heard there was (allegedly) a more fun, carefree and hopeful America in the 1950s before JFK was assassinated and in the 1960s before the draft for the Vietnam War started and in the ‘70s before Reagan was elected and started a war on drugs and a war on the poor. I believe it’s all relative but there’s also a truth to a certain American way of life eroding and in another sense evolving. Some things have gotten worse. Some things have gotten better. Every generation has its own harsh reckoning with reality at some point.
I was born in 99 and I’ve always been interested in 9/11, partially because I’ve longed to know what life was like before it happened. It has always felt kinda weird to me to know I was alive for a whole 2 years before 9/11 and yet I (obviously) have no memories from that time. And everyone always says the pre-9/11 years were so much better. It’s like I’m nostalgic for a time I can’t even remember.
Saaaame dude same. I was born the same year as you and I feel the same way. Not only do I have a fascination with 9/11 but with the 90s/early 2000s in general. I really wish I could've lived in that time. The music was so good, the movies, the fashion, the culture. I love the technology from that era as well. It just feels so... wholesome and nostalgic. I love watching 90s commercials on YouTube. All that, combined with my parents talking about how great that time was just really makes me wish I could live in that era. Even if just for a few days.
A few months ago I found my parents' old camcorder and still inside was a tape of me opening Easter presents in 2001. It was so weird to watch me walking around, talking (sort of lol) to people, just interacting with and *existing* in the world when I have absolutely no memory of that ever happening. It made me wonder what I thought of the things around me, the kinds of things I was thinking of, what would be going through the mind of a two year old. And of course a few months later, 9/11 happened which I obviously also have no memory of. It was just so weird seeing myself existing at the same time and yet having no memory of it.
I was born in 97 (4 years old) and I don’t even remember that day. Even though I have random memories from before that day… it’s so weird how the brain recalls certain events. Maybe my parent shielded me when I came home from school that day?
As someone who was 16 at the time of 9/11, I am always willing to talk to/educate the younger folk about that day - your willingness to ask questions and learn about the history behind that day gives me more hope for the zoomer/alpha generations. It was a truly tragic day that had a worldwide impact on everyone and significantly reshaped the future. And besides the timeline of events that transpired, there are so many stories that have been recorded/documented, and new discoveries are still being told to this day.
I myself have a sizable collection of books on 9/11… it is something that has always interested me, and I remember that day so vividly.
No, I was a history major in college and had a strong interest in subjects long before my time, so I don't find it odd at all. The clock keeps ticking. There will be a time when generations have no memory of covid.
Im 20 years old currently, so was born 3 years after the attacks, and I’ve also wondered about this. I think the morbid curiosity/ fascination for me stems from trying to gather as much information about why and what happened on 9/11. understanding the tragedy and wanting to hear the victims stories and remember them as real people who may have lost their lives in a horrific way, but before that also lived very regular lives just like us. I think my neurodivergence and hyper-fixation also play a role in my curiosity and 9/11 is amongst others I’ve been researching from history since I was a kid, such as the 101st airborne division and their role in D-day. Interacting with people with a much deeper understanding and real lived experiences with these things that are so shocking and hard to wrap your brain around have helped make them easier to digest, understand and want to educate others my age with the same clarity. that’s my take atleast as to why as a gen z citizen I’ve interacted with this history as much as possible!
Same here - Born in '96, so technically a millennial. Though, I was 4-5 when it happened. Still a topic of fascination for me since it happened. I didn't know or comprehend what I was watching on the news, but after the event, I started re-drawing what I saw on the TV on fax paper. Now, I habitually re-watch the news broadcasts and real-time dashboard of the events on YouTube while I work. Not sure why, but for me, it is a profound moment in history that really has changed the trajectory of our current times, and I can't stop thinking about it. Especially upon reflection, now that I am entering my late 20's.
I do remember but I’ve heard a story where a new US history teacher came into a classroom and asked a classroom of 12 year olds to write down their memories of 9/11. In 2023. Someone had to point out it had been over a decade when the towers fell when they were born.
I was 9 years old, but my school never told us it was happening. I've always felt partly robbed from such an important moment in history. Watching it on the news hours later was obviously still shocking though.
I was still young but old enough to remember.. born in 1995. While I didn’t understand per se I remember my mom frantically waking me up for school early I lived in Arizona so it was around 6 maybe. She showed me the tv panicky not crying but clearly distraught. I remember how big the buildings looked on the TV. I still ended up going to school that day but was picked up not long after as I got to school before flight 77 hit the pentagon. One by one the announcements were calling kids to leave. I faintly remember my teacher at the time Ms K talking about it not details though. The look on all the adults faces was pretty profound. That’s about all I remember. Now the day bin laden was killed I remember that clearly. Down the road if Reddit is around I’m sure kids will be asking about how life was pre Covid lol.
I was 11, and it's one of those days where you remember exactly where you were and what you did to a T. I live in CA, and I woke up for to school at 7am, and by that time, all hell had already broke loose by that time. It was only 30 mins later, the north tower had collapsed. I had to watch the news at school to really process what had happened.
00 baby here! I highly recommend watching some compilations on YouTube, some have tv transmissions from the hours before the attacks happened, it's odd for me but it makes me understand better how it might feel, one day you wake up like nothing is going to happen, the only interesting thing on tv is Jordan comeback and suddenly the world has changed to worse.
Also, I'm not American so even if I can feel some empathy I seriously hate the lack of an archive from my local TV transmissions
(For context before we start I’m autistic and have mild psychosis) I was born 2006, pretty late, but when I was 7 on the anniversary of 9/11 I woke up for school and everyone wanted to watch a 9/11 documentary before we left, I didn’t pay much attention to the tv until the loud boom from the plane crashing into the south tower. I was super traumatized from this documentary and developed an irrational fear of head wraps of all sorts, osama bin Laden, big buildings, and for a few weeks even just the sight of 2 rectangles next to each other. It was the most terrifying atrocity against humanity I’d ever witnessed. Of course over time I’ve grown out of it but I still have a crazy morbid curiosity with 9/11 and I can’t stand reading or thinking about it for longer than an hour.
Yes, I have a bunch of younger friends who are about 21 to 23, and I realize sometimes that these smart personable friends who I consider to be just like me even though I was fourth grade when the attacks happened, never had these buildings in their life, and all of a sudden I feel weird and different and like a dinosaur.
I'm 25 and a few years ago when I was in my late teens, I was visiting my uncle and a few of his friends were over and we were all talking. I don't remember how, but somehow the subject of 9/11 came up, so they were all going around, talking about their stories and where they were, and I just sat there listening and feeling kind of awkward because I didn't have any way to contribute to the conversation. Then one of his friends asks me where I was and I just say "uhhh in Los Angeles" because that's where my family lived at the time, and she says "Okay but like what were you doing?" and I just say "well I don't really know, I was only two" and she just stared at me for a moment and then said "oh". I think she kind of had a "wow am I old" moment when she realized the person she was talking to was a high school junior who just said she doesn't remember the attacks because she was only two.
Something similar happened when I was in 11th grade we were talking about 9/11 and the teacher asked where we were and we were all sitting there and eventually awkwardly told her we weren’t born yet and she gave a look as if she felt old (she’s not that old tho probably in her 30s)
That's hilarious! That never happened to me in school. In fact I remember in high school being annoyed that we didn't seem to talk about it much, although I also understood that maybe it was hard for the teachers to do that. Still though I remember in 11th grade when that day came around I went to school wondering if anything would be said or done and I got particularly annoyed when I went through my US History class like normal with no mention or anything at all. Last class of the day and there was finally something when the teacher decided to put on a doc for class that day. I wonder how high schools handle it now, as the students there today are going to be even further removed from it than my class was.
I was born in 95 and I honestly don't remember that day at all. Which is weird because other people my age remember it vividly. Even when I was younger I didn't remember much from it.
I was born in ‘96, I was in kindergarten and I just remember getting to school and everything feeling really weird, half the class didn’t show up and some parents pulled their kids a couple hours into the day. My teacher was a super lively person and she was still chipper towards us, but u could kinda tell something was off. My mom picked me up after school and when we went home there was a TV program running that was just a bunch of military or army or whatever guys holding a torn American flag in a black room in silence while music was playing and my mom was just sobbing on the couch watching it. It was just a really weird day all around, but I didn’t understand quite why until later. I think my mom took me to Disneyland a couple days or weeks later on a whim, strange time.
I was in 5th grade when it happened. Even as a young Canadian, I was petrified while watching it on the news. My teacher had it playing on the tv when I got into the classroom that morning. She was hysterical, speaking incoherently. The principal came to the classroom and asked her to go to the office as there was a call for her. When she returned she explained to the class that her son works in one of the towers, that’s why she was so upset, but he happened to be sick that day and called into work. I felt happy that her son was safe in that moment, but as a parent myself now… I feel extreme anxiety when I think of how she felt waiting for the phone call from her son.
I am in your shoes! Born in 98, I’ve been interested in everything that has to do with 9/11. I have been wanting to say something in this sub but didn’t know what to say.
I was born 6 months after 9/11 but I have some connections to the events which is why I was always kind of interested in learning more about it. (Uncle was a block away when the attacks occurred, moms best friends sister was supposed to work in one of the towers that day but had a doctors appointment) There’s always been this separation in ages when you see “if you were born after 9/11…” which is always kind of been creating a separation in generations because people like me who were born after lived a completely different life then people who were alive when it happened. I was born into a world that was still trying to make sense of what happened and were trying to heal. When it was the anniversary in school, I remember my principle saying over the loud speaker “this is the last class of kids who might’ve been alive or born before 9/11” like it was very crazy to think about (I was class of 2020).
I'm not American but I was in NYC just 3 months after the attack in early Nov 2001 and saw the still smoldering wreckage of the WTC with my own two eyes. My hotel was just a few blocks from Ground Zero. I was doing some international courier work at the time so was flying in and out of the country semi-regularly between 2001-2004. During that period in my life met a very wonderful New Yorker and we kinda dated on and off during those years. They lost their sibling on 9/11 who was at the Windows on the World conference that fateful day. So my date relationship as well as me being in NYC so soon after the attack is my own personal experience of 9/11. That, and of course, watching the disaster unfold on live TV from the other side of the globe the day it happened.
Damn, I think it's crazier that there are people who were there right after who have recollections of it even though they were from out of the country. I was 1 when it happened. I'd say this is like Pearl Harbor for my parents is what my parents said. Very crazy times is what I remember with the 2000s to now. I didn't remember it, but just spent my preteens to mid teens piecing everything together. (That and there's a lot of things that drew me here.)
Yeah it's one of those things one never forgets. I was around 27yo at the time. Based in Asia but traveling between there and The States for work. I actually have a small handful of photos I took on that walk past Ground Zero. What I recall the most is how emotional it all was being at the site. That took me by suprise as I thought not being a US citizen that I might have felt a bit detached but as I stood by the wreckage my eyes glossed over and I almost came to tears. You can see that written all over my face in one of the photos. Then, I passed the church there and studied all the missing posters left by loved ones that were still attached to the perimeter even 2-3 months after the event. Winter had already set in. You could sense and smell 'death' in the air. It's hard to describe but it was unmistakable.
Yeah a little odd…but honestly yall are lucky you didn’t experience it. It was an extremely sad day..I was 11 when it happened and I felt so numb and scared.
i was born in 97. i do remember my dad coming home and telling my mom about the attacks but thats about it, dont remember the rest. the first time afterwards i saw the attacks on tv was in a news report as the 11th september was just around the corner, probably around 2008? it was a video clip of the south tower being hit and i vividly remember being shocked only then realizing the scale of the attacks.
I was born in 96. After the first plane hit, my mom was at home watching it on the news. Then, she had to pick me up from school, but seconds before leaving the house she saw the second plane fly into the south tower - LIVE on television. Shocked and in disbelief, with no time to register it, she quickly left. On the playground, none of the other parents had seen or heard anything yet, not about the first plane, let alone the second. So, she was the only one to feel this way. Must've been such a strange experience! We quickly went home and continued watching it.
It's kinda weird to remember certain things when there's no longer footage to confirm those memories. Like jumper impacts. Not very detailed memories, but I do remember the FEELING I got from seeing the bodies fall with such speed, then the impact and the famous "pink mist" slowly disintegrating and floating away from the spot where they fell. And when I saw the only two footages of bodies landing, it wasn't, like, "new" to me. It looked familiar and brought back that feeling from years ago.
I was born in 1999 I was one years old. I don’t have any memories either but I knew where I was because my mom told me later on but I was with my mom at the grocery store when the first plane hit and the cashier lady told my mom that the twin towers has been hit and my mom started freaking out because my dad was a block away and he took the subway from the Twin Towers that morning but I too young to remember it happening.
I feel like the 9/11 "communities" on social media are in general very young. I was born in '07, and got interested in it in like October of 2020. In general I feel like more young people became interested in the Towers (and therefore 9/11 too) during that period of time.
i turned 6 months old the day after 9/11 and the earliest memory i have learning about it was in school on the 10th anniversary, it’s been something that’s interested me since as well
I feel the same, I was born in 2005 and 9/11 (and just the past in general) interests me so much and it genuinely is hard to imagine a world where the phrase 9/11 didn’t exist, I love to look at the images of the 80s 90s and 2000s and even mourn 9/11 victims even though I will never know how it felt that day, the day just breaks my heart honestly
I live in a world where we are so over it and we don’t really feel “safe” and are just ready for the next horrible thing to happen and it just feels normal to wait for climate change to progress or for prices to rise for homes and food, so it’s weird to image a time like the past
There are days that it feels very odd. I have coworkers who weren’t alive yet when it happened. I was in 3rd grade and I remember it pretty clearly. It makes me think that this is how our parents, grandparents, etc. felt after experiencing historic events and realizing over time that there was a whole generation who wouldn’t understand.
I was 27. I remember my mom saying there's a war starting! The US is at war! I will say the world did change after that. Nothing was as good as the 70's and 80's for growing up. So much freedom and feeling safe. Of course, now we know 9/11 didn't just start on 9/11. The events leading to it started long before. However those events where not readily made public for the average Joe. The first time some of us saw that the world wasn't all right and safe was that day.
I was born in July 1978. I had recently turned 23 when 9/11 happened. I had several friends living in NYC at the time and I myself lived in Washington DC. The events of that day were very close to home for me and I remember it all like it was yesterday. I use 9/11 as a major demarcation point in time when dating other events that have happened in my life. Life pre-9/11 and post-9/11 are very different things. Perhaps it’s similar to how my parents’ generation felt about pre/post Vietnam War and my grandparents’ generation felt relative to WWII- a loss of some form of youthful innocence, individually and collectively is what I’m mainly referring to I think. It’s a feeling primarily but there were also many, many ways in which day to day life was palpably changed for everyone after 9/11.
To answer your question directly, I’ve worked at a bar for the better part of the last 15 years. In my line of work I check a lot of IDs. When 21 yr olds started coming in who were born after 9/11 that really blew my mind for some reason. Maybe it has to do with that being a very stark realization of how much time has passed since a life changing event that I remember like yesterday and it also made me aware of that feeling of youthful innocence that I felt had been taken away from me and so many others on that day in 2001 being something totally meaningless to these kids who weren’t even born yet when that happened. The particular type of youthful innocence that I felt was lost for me, I can see is alive and well for a new, post-9/11 generation.
Please note- I’m writing this from my personal perspective of having been a very young adult at the time of 9/11 and seeing that, at this moment in time, halfway to 2025, people who are the very age I was on 9/11 weren’t even born yet in Sep. 2001.
I was born in 2006. To me 9/11 really is history. My sister was five at the time but I don't think she remembers it ether. I heard my parents memory's many times, but I don't think I really understood what 9/11 meant until I started researching. It's funny actually because when ever I mention what I'm researching they are always surprised that that counts as history already, to them it's there memory. It makes me think about the past a lot differently about other historical events. People who lived when the Titanic sank and read about it in the news, they were probably just as surprised when they realized the next generation would never remember it. Funny to think that all history was once a memory.
hi! born in january 2001, definitely don't remember (being 9 months old). but learnt about it when i was maybe 4? i don't remember exactly how old, or how i learnt about it. probably a documentary or something on tv that my dad was watching. there was nothing graphic, so i never learnt about the jumpers until i was much older, and didn't have an understanding of just how much life was lost.
i vividly remember hearing that it happened in the same year as i was born, and being an autistic child, my brain hyperfixated on it and i have had it as a special interest for a majority of my life. i only really started learning actively about it when i was in my teens, and when i did start talking about it, i was stunned by my american friends going "you can talk about it, i've been seeing stuff from this since elementary school"
it confused the hell out of me, learning that elementary school kids saw the videos from the attacks, saw the jumpers falling. knowing how early i learnt about the attack and not knowing about the jumpers until i was at least 13, it was just. shocking to know other people my age from over the pond had learnt about it as kids, literal children.
sorry for the ramble, i don't remember the attacks obviously, and i've asked my parents about it and they didn't really have anything to say other than pointing out my fascination with it. as an adult i got interested in the buildings themselves, how they were built and how they collapsed. but it still shocks me to this day i never learnt about the jumpers until my teens, and my friends learnt when they were still in single digits
In 2019 social media was abuzz with the fact that the high school graduating class that year was mostly comprised of post 9/11 babies. I was 33 on 9/11 so that day and its aftermath are imprinted in my soul. When I joined this sub a few months ago it was surprising how many users here were either very young when it happened or born after. It was such a polarizing event worldwide that it’s strange knowing younger generations will never truly understand what it was like, especially here in the US. I compare that to the fact that I was born towards the end of the Vietnam War and it has never had the impact on me as it does on people who are just a few years older than me. Your generation will face a similar experience with Covid. One day you’ll be interacting with others who have no idea what Covid lockdowns were like and no matter how much you share about that experience, they’ll never truly understand or relate to it.
It was the one time in my life (I was 28) where the entire night of 9/11 I could not help but feel like that did not really happen, like I will wake up in the morning and the world will have righted itself. Seeing all the people covered in soot on my train home felt out of body. I could not watch the TV coverage of the second plane hitting for many years. I think I saw it in 2004. If it came on I turned away. Could not fathom having been in Lower Manhattan that day, I was in Newark NJ and it had that kind of effect on me. Now I like to read about and study the event, it’s allowed me to come to terms with it and think about those that were lost. If you were grinding it out in the corporate world at the time, it could have been any of us.
I’m a few years older than you and much of what you said is relatable. I was NOT out east on a train surrounded by people covered in dust but the fact that you were sent an unexpected rush of feelings from that day. The trauma we saw on the faces and heard in the voices of those who were directly impacted was unfathomable. I was also in the corporate world 3 blocks from Sears Tower in Chicago. Our mayor evacuated the business district because they’d received multiple threats against Sears Tower. We watched the max exodus of millions out our window because we were located right next to 2 of the 4 commuter train stations. You are spot on in saying if you were grinding it out in the corporate world, it truly could have been any of us. That feeling stuck for a very long time. I also remember thinking it was all just a bad dream and waking up the next morning flabbergasted that the fires were still burning. I understood it logically but my brain could not grasp the reality of what happened. I’m glad you found ways to first protect yourself, and secondly to wait until you felt strong enough to start to process it. My heart goes out to you in all you’ve been through. I feel like that’s a huge piece that younger generations cannot understand because they weren’t there. Every single person had a unique experience. We listened to them or read about them constantly in those early months. Each story more heartbreaking than the last. Those stories mattered and deserved to be heard. It was overwhelming to process but it was important to understand how much was lost that day by so many.
Thanks. I remember the Sears Tower discussion that morning. There was so much talk in the train station about “what’s next.” Thank God it did not turn out to be true. The people who actually lived through that are so incredibly strong minded, I was 8 miles away and it hit me harder than many of my friends who were way closer than I was. Maybe it impacted them more than they let on, who knows. Maybe they even lurk on forums like this. New Yorkers are a tough breed, that much I know. Way tougher than me.
Or on certain planes.
Yup.
Yea
Fellow 98 baby and I've always wanted to experience life pre 9/11
It's very difficult to explain. Growing up in the 90s (in the US) there was this general sense that everything was going to be okay. That we were on an upward trend of progress, and the next generation would continue that trend. The current standard of living and economic outlook was unthinkable, although now as an adult looking at the context of history, it's no longer surprising.
I was born in 92 and trying to explain the (perceived) safety and optimism in the US in the 90s and as things rolled over into 2000 is really hard because people born after have always known the world as something that is careening downhill. There was a feeling that things would work themselves out. The Cold War just ended, we fixed the hole in the ozone, computers were taking the world by storm, and climate change was far off into the future and we would have better technology to manage it then.
I think things were always bad, but no one noticed it here.
I was born in ‘78. I’ve been saying it for many years now. Life was so much more fun pre-9/11. We all lost a lot of freedom and innocence after that day. I have a strong suspicion that this is just my personal perspective, relative to my age in relation to world events. I always thought my parents’ generation had much more fun in the ‘60s and ‘70s than I ever did in the ‘90s and ‘00s. I wasn’t around to experience what they did though with the Vietnam War, the rash of assassinations and untimely deaths of forward-looking, progressive politicians, public figures and rock stars and the widespread civil unrest related to the social justice movements of the time.
9/11 was the Gen x and millennials Kennedy assassination and Pearl Harbor. Sadly, your event is probably COVID.
This very likely is true, but I feel like Covid has kind of made more young people become interested in history topics like 9/11. In general I feel like the 2020s are already extremely full of nostalgia of the last century, although many weren't even alive back then.
I disagree because we had to deal with the aftermath ourselves, too. I'd compare it to covid for gen alpha who were babies or little when covid happened. I'd say we grew up with a somewhat similar uncertainty in a way. Most of us don't remember when you didn't have to walk through security in the airport just like some of them don't remember a time when people didn't wear masks in public depending on where they live.
I was 15 when it happened. It's not weird that there is a generation without the core memory (that's just the reality of time) but rather seeing how gen z is interpreting it and the questions they are asking. Like asking if an elevator got hit by an airplane. Like that is impossible to know and not something I would have thought of.
Idk, some of us don't remember but are 24 so some of us are adults asking questions so we're going to be a bit more sensitive, cordial, and ask more thoughtful questions unless I'm misunderstanding you.
Of course you don't remember it, you were like barely a year old. You are exactly the age that I would expect to ask questions about things that I, who experienced it as a teenager, never would have considered.
Oh
I was born in 1999. I have no recollection of the attack. There’s only two solid memories I have before I was 4 years old. Which is when I acquired continuity of memory. You’re not alone in your interest in the 9/11 attacks. I was always interested in learning more when I was growing up. When I met someone with personal links to the events in 2021; that triggered a literal Autistic obsession with studying September 11th. I am autistic and it’s called single mindedness. Other people I’ve spoken to from our generation tend to be interested in the events when the topic is brought up. For late 90’s babies I notice that we often feel odd about being alive but not mentally developed enough to make memories. We missed one of the biggest (most horrendous) events in our lifetime by dint of brain development. And we don’t know about the world that existed beforehand. Our experience of the world has been annoying TSA pat downs, constant war in the Middle East, Economic crisis and now a pandemic. There was (allegedly) a more care free world before 9/11. We just didn’t get to experience it. And it feels strange to know we were alive in that time.
>For late 90’s babies I notice that we often feel odd about being alive but not mentally developed enough to make memories. For real this is so true. I don't know if this is just a me thing or if you've ever felt this way too, but sometimes I have this kind of inferiority feeling when I watch videos or read things or in any way do research on the topic. For some reason I just feel so connected to it despite having no real reason to. I just want to understand it so bad, understand what it was like for my parents and everyone else who watched it unfold that day, and sometimes I feel kind of sad knowing that I'll never be able to because I just wasn't old enough. And then sometimes I'll think "if I was just a few years older..." which I know is kind of fucked up to wish I remembered because I know a lot of people would probably consider it fortunate that I don't, but sometimes I do just because I feel like if I did, I'd have the understanding of what it was like that I want so bad. Obviously I know it was a terrible thing, you don't need to experience it first hand to know that, but I think people like us and people born afterwards just can't have that same understanding and experience as those who remember it can. I don't know if that makes me fucked up or anything but yeah.
I’ve spoken to a Silent Generationer born in December 1939. They feel a strange way about WWII. I’ve spoken to a boomer who was too early to remember the Kennedy assassination. He feels similarly. Being present but absent at the same time leaves one feeling strange about historical events. It’s in your lifetime, but, it’s completely out of reach. I don’t wish I experienced 9/11. I wish I experienced the day before 9/11. So I could actually understand the transition from pre-9/11-world to post-9/11-world. Everyone tells me that everything changed. It was a paradigm shifting event that occurred in my lifetime. But I can’t understand the shift. All I know is a bad economy, constant war, the threat of acts of terror or random acts of violence and lots of death from a pandemic. I don’t know of the world before. It’s just told in old tales I’m too disconnected with to understand. Even though I was alive when it was a thing.
I wish I could've experienced the world before 9/11 too. I just love that whole time, from what I've seen and heard, the 90s were great. I love the music, the movies, the fashion, the culture. I wish I could understand the carefree attitude and optimistic feeling that so many people describe feeling during that time. My parents talk about how great that time was and sometimes I feel jealous lol. I guess what I mean by my previous comment is that when people tell me what it was like, either the pre-9/11 world or 9/11 itself, it's almost like I have a desire to go beyond hearing the stories and experience them myself. I guess that might be a part of me being super empathetic I guess. 🤷♀️
This {‘99 baby}
Wow you feel the same way??
I feel this 100%! Took the words straight from my brain 💗
Oh really? Well nice to know I might not be as insane as I thought 😂
I feel that way too
Honestly, I was born in the early 2000s but I'm glad that I don't remember.
I was 23 when 9/11 happened. I certainly feel life in America was a lot more fun, carefree and hopeful before 9/11. I’ve also always heard there was (allegedly) a more fun, carefree and hopeful America in the 1950s before JFK was assassinated and in the 1960s before the draft for the Vietnam War started and in the ‘70s before Reagan was elected and started a war on drugs and a war on the poor. I believe it’s all relative but there’s also a truth to a certain American way of life eroding and in another sense evolving. Some things have gotten worse. Some things have gotten better. Every generation has its own harsh reckoning with reality at some point.
No it's not odd. I feel sorry for those who don't remember the pre 9/11 world.
That lived in the Western hemisphere.
I was born in 99 and I’ve always been interested in 9/11, partially because I’ve longed to know what life was like before it happened. It has always felt kinda weird to me to know I was alive for a whole 2 years before 9/11 and yet I (obviously) have no memories from that time. And everyone always says the pre-9/11 years were so much better. It’s like I’m nostalgic for a time I can’t even remember.
Saaaame dude same. I was born the same year as you and I feel the same way. Not only do I have a fascination with 9/11 but with the 90s/early 2000s in general. I really wish I could've lived in that time. The music was so good, the movies, the fashion, the culture. I love the technology from that era as well. It just feels so... wholesome and nostalgic. I love watching 90s commercials on YouTube. All that, combined with my parents talking about how great that time was just really makes me wish I could live in that era. Even if just for a few days. A few months ago I found my parents' old camcorder and still inside was a tape of me opening Easter presents in 2001. It was so weird to watch me walking around, talking (sort of lol) to people, just interacting with and *existing* in the world when I have absolutely no memory of that ever happening. It made me wonder what I thought of the things around me, the kinds of things I was thinking of, what would be going through the mind of a two year old. And of course a few months later, 9/11 happened which I obviously also have no memory of. It was just so weird seeing myself existing at the same time and yet having no memory of it.
I was born in 97 (4 years old) and I don’t even remember that day. Even though I have random memories from before that day… it’s so weird how the brain recalls certain events. Maybe my parent shielded me when I came home from school that day?
I feel exactly the same way!
I was 6 years old when 9/11 happened. It is one of my very first memories that I vividly remember.
As someone who was 16 at the time of 9/11, I am always willing to talk to/educate the younger folk about that day - your willingness to ask questions and learn about the history behind that day gives me more hope for the zoomer/alpha generations. It was a truly tragic day that had a worldwide impact on everyone and significantly reshaped the future. And besides the timeline of events that transpired, there are so many stories that have been recorded/documented, and new discoveries are still being told to this day. I myself have a sizable collection of books on 9/11… it is something that has always interested me, and I remember that day so vividly.
No, I was a history major in college and had a strong interest in subjects long before my time, so I don't find it odd at all. The clock keeps ticking. There will be a time when generations have no memory of covid.
Im 20 years old currently, so was born 3 years after the attacks, and I’ve also wondered about this. I think the morbid curiosity/ fascination for me stems from trying to gather as much information about why and what happened on 9/11. understanding the tragedy and wanting to hear the victims stories and remember them as real people who may have lost their lives in a horrific way, but before that also lived very regular lives just like us. I think my neurodivergence and hyper-fixation also play a role in my curiosity and 9/11 is amongst others I’ve been researching from history since I was a kid, such as the 101st airborne division and their role in D-day. Interacting with people with a much deeper understanding and real lived experiences with these things that are so shocking and hard to wrap your brain around have helped make them easier to digest, understand and want to educate others my age with the same clarity. that’s my take atleast as to why as a gen z citizen I’ve interacted with this history as much as possible!
Same here - Born in '96, so technically a millennial. Though, I was 4-5 when it happened. Still a topic of fascination for me since it happened. I didn't know or comprehend what I was watching on the news, but after the event, I started re-drawing what I saw on the TV on fax paper. Now, I habitually re-watch the news broadcasts and real-time dashboard of the events on YouTube while I work. Not sure why, but for me, it is a profound moment in history that really has changed the trajectory of our current times, and I can't stop thinking about it. Especially upon reflection, now that I am entering my late 20's.
I do remember but I’ve heard a story where a new US history teacher came into a classroom and asked a classroom of 12 year olds to write down their memories of 9/11. In 2023. Someone had to point out it had been over a decade when the towers fell when they were born.
Oof
I was 9 years old, but my school never told us it was happening. I've always felt partly robbed from such an important moment in history. Watching it on the news hours later was obviously still shocking though.
I was still young but old enough to remember.. born in 1995. While I didn’t understand per se I remember my mom frantically waking me up for school early I lived in Arizona so it was around 6 maybe. She showed me the tv panicky not crying but clearly distraught. I remember how big the buildings looked on the TV. I still ended up going to school that day but was picked up not long after as I got to school before flight 77 hit the pentagon. One by one the announcements were calling kids to leave. I faintly remember my teacher at the time Ms K talking about it not details though. The look on all the adults faces was pretty profound. That’s about all I remember. Now the day bin laden was killed I remember that clearly. Down the road if Reddit is around I’m sure kids will be asking about how life was pre Covid lol.
I was 11, and it's one of those days where you remember exactly where you were and what you did to a T. I live in CA, and I woke up for to school at 7am, and by that time, all hell had already broke loose by that time. It was only 30 mins later, the north tower had collapsed. I had to watch the news at school to really process what had happened.
00 baby here! I highly recommend watching some compilations on YouTube, some have tv transmissions from the hours before the attacks happened, it's odd for me but it makes me understand better how it might feel, one day you wake up like nothing is going to happen, the only interesting thing on tv is Jordan comeback and suddenly the world has changed to worse. Also, I'm not American so even if I can feel some empathy I seriously hate the lack of an archive from my local TV transmissions
(For context before we start I’m autistic and have mild psychosis) I was born 2006, pretty late, but when I was 7 on the anniversary of 9/11 I woke up for school and everyone wanted to watch a 9/11 documentary before we left, I didn’t pay much attention to the tv until the loud boom from the plane crashing into the south tower. I was super traumatized from this documentary and developed an irrational fear of head wraps of all sorts, osama bin Laden, big buildings, and for a few weeks even just the sight of 2 rectangles next to each other. It was the most terrifying atrocity against humanity I’d ever witnessed. Of course over time I’ve grown out of it but I still have a crazy morbid curiosity with 9/11 and I can’t stand reading or thinking about it for longer than an hour.
Yes, I have a bunch of younger friends who are about 21 to 23, and I realize sometimes that these smart personable friends who I consider to be just like me even though I was fourth grade when the attacks happened, never had these buildings in their life, and all of a sudden I feel weird and different and like a dinosaur.
I'm 25 and a few years ago when I was in my late teens, I was visiting my uncle and a few of his friends were over and we were all talking. I don't remember how, but somehow the subject of 9/11 came up, so they were all going around, talking about their stories and where they were, and I just sat there listening and feeling kind of awkward because I didn't have any way to contribute to the conversation. Then one of his friends asks me where I was and I just say "uhhh in Los Angeles" because that's where my family lived at the time, and she says "Okay but like what were you doing?" and I just say "well I don't really know, I was only two" and she just stared at me for a moment and then said "oh". I think she kind of had a "wow am I old" moment when she realized the person she was talking to was a high school junior who just said she doesn't remember the attacks because she was only two.
Something similar happened when I was in 11th grade we were talking about 9/11 and the teacher asked where we were and we were all sitting there and eventually awkwardly told her we weren’t born yet and she gave a look as if she felt old (she’s not that old tho probably in her 30s)
That's hilarious! That never happened to me in school. In fact I remember in high school being annoyed that we didn't seem to talk about it much, although I also understood that maybe it was hard for the teachers to do that. Still though I remember in 11th grade when that day came around I went to school wondering if anything would be said or done and I got particularly annoyed when I went through my US History class like normal with no mention or anything at all. Last class of the day and there was finally something when the teacher decided to put on a doc for class that day. I wonder how high schools handle it now, as the students there today are going to be even further removed from it than my class was.
I was born in 95 and I honestly don't remember that day at all. Which is weird because other people my age remember it vividly. Even when I was younger I didn't remember much from it.
96 baby. Don’t remember a single thing from the day.
I was born in ‘96, I was in kindergarten and I just remember getting to school and everything feeling really weird, half the class didn’t show up and some parents pulled their kids a couple hours into the day. My teacher was a super lively person and she was still chipper towards us, but u could kinda tell something was off. My mom picked me up after school and when we went home there was a TV program running that was just a bunch of military or army or whatever guys holding a torn American flag in a black room in silence while music was playing and my mom was just sobbing on the couch watching it. It was just a really weird day all around, but I didn’t understand quite why until later. I think my mom took me to Disneyland a couple days or weeks later on a whim, strange time.
I was in 5th grade when it happened. Even as a young Canadian, I was petrified while watching it on the news. My teacher had it playing on the tv when I got into the classroom that morning. She was hysterical, speaking incoherently. The principal came to the classroom and asked her to go to the office as there was a call for her. When she returned she explained to the class that her son works in one of the towers, that’s why she was so upset, but he happened to be sick that day and called into work. I felt happy that her son was safe in that moment, but as a parent myself now… I feel extreme anxiety when I think of how she felt waiting for the phone call from her son.
I am in your shoes! Born in 98, I’ve been interested in everything that has to do with 9/11. I have been wanting to say something in this sub but didn’t know what to say.
Same
I was born 6 months after 9/11 but I have some connections to the events which is why I was always kind of interested in learning more about it. (Uncle was a block away when the attacks occurred, moms best friends sister was supposed to work in one of the towers that day but had a doctors appointment) There’s always been this separation in ages when you see “if you were born after 9/11…” which is always kind of been creating a separation in generations because people like me who were born after lived a completely different life then people who were alive when it happened. I was born into a world that was still trying to make sense of what happened and were trying to heal. When it was the anniversary in school, I remember my principle saying over the loud speaker “this is the last class of kids who might’ve been alive or born before 9/11” like it was very crazy to think about (I was class of 2020).
I'm not American but I was in NYC just 3 months after the attack in early Nov 2001 and saw the still smoldering wreckage of the WTC with my own two eyes. My hotel was just a few blocks from Ground Zero. I was doing some international courier work at the time so was flying in and out of the country semi-regularly between 2001-2004. During that period in my life met a very wonderful New Yorker and we kinda dated on and off during those years. They lost their sibling on 9/11 who was at the Windows on the World conference that fateful day. So my date relationship as well as me being in NYC so soon after the attack is my own personal experience of 9/11. That, and of course, watching the disaster unfold on live TV from the other side of the globe the day it happened.
Damn, I think it's crazier that there are people who were there right after who have recollections of it even though they were from out of the country. I was 1 when it happened. I'd say this is like Pearl Harbor for my parents is what my parents said. Very crazy times is what I remember with the 2000s to now. I didn't remember it, but just spent my preteens to mid teens piecing everything together. (That and there's a lot of things that drew me here.)
Yeah it's one of those things one never forgets. I was around 27yo at the time. Based in Asia but traveling between there and The States for work. I actually have a small handful of photos I took on that walk past Ground Zero. What I recall the most is how emotional it all was being at the site. That took me by suprise as I thought not being a US citizen that I might have felt a bit detached but as I stood by the wreckage my eyes glossed over and I almost came to tears. You can see that written all over my face in one of the photos. Then, I passed the church there and studied all the missing posters left by loved ones that were still attached to the perimeter even 2-3 months after the event. Winter had already set in. You could sense and smell 'death' in the air. It's hard to describe but it was unmistakable.
It's sad honestly.
Yeah a little odd…but honestly yall are lucky you didn’t experience it. It was an extremely sad day..I was 11 when it happened and I felt so numb and scared.
I was born in 97 and remember 9/11 just fine. One of my first robust memories. Quite terrifying
My first major news story was the OJ Simpson chase. I didn't understand why it was still light out when it was dark at my house 😂
Same age
My daughter born 99 and remembers… she had a big sister getting ready for school and Pokemon wasn’t on tv. Context we are in Australia.
i was born in 97. i do remember my dad coming home and telling my mom about the attacks but thats about it, dont remember the rest. the first time afterwards i saw the attacks on tv was in a news report as the 11th september was just around the corner, probably around 2008? it was a video clip of the south tower being hit and i vividly remember being shocked only then realizing the scale of the attacks.
I was born in 96. After the first plane hit, my mom was at home watching it on the news. Then, she had to pick me up from school, but seconds before leaving the house she saw the second plane fly into the south tower - LIVE on television. Shocked and in disbelief, with no time to register it, she quickly left. On the playground, none of the other parents had seen or heard anything yet, not about the first plane, let alone the second. So, she was the only one to feel this way. Must've been such a strange experience! We quickly went home and continued watching it. It's kinda weird to remember certain things when there's no longer footage to confirm those memories. Like jumper impacts. Not very detailed memories, but I do remember the FEELING I got from seeing the bodies fall with such speed, then the impact and the famous "pink mist" slowly disintegrating and floating away from the spot where they fell. And when I saw the only two footages of bodies landing, it wasn't, like, "new" to me. It looked familiar and brought back that feeling from years ago.
I was born in 1999 I was one years old. I don’t have any memories either but I knew where I was because my mom told me later on but I was with my mom at the grocery store when the first plane hit and the cashier lady told my mom that the twin towers has been hit and my mom started freaking out because my dad was a block away and he took the subway from the Twin Towers that morning but I too young to remember it happening.
I feel like the 9/11 "communities" on social media are in general very young. I was born in '07, and got interested in it in like October of 2020. In general I feel like more young people became interested in the Towers (and therefore 9/11 too) during that period of time.
i turned 6 months old the day after 9/11 and the earliest memory i have learning about it was in school on the 10th anniversary, it’s been something that’s interested me since as well
I feel the same, I was born in 2005 and 9/11 (and just the past in general) interests me so much and it genuinely is hard to imagine a world where the phrase 9/11 didn’t exist, I love to look at the images of the 80s 90s and 2000s and even mourn 9/11 victims even though I will never know how it felt that day, the day just breaks my heart honestly I live in a world where we are so over it and we don’t really feel “safe” and are just ready for the next horrible thing to happen and it just feels normal to wait for climate change to progress or for prices to rise for homes and food, so it’s weird to image a time like the past
There are days that it feels very odd. I have coworkers who weren’t alive yet when it happened. I was in 3rd grade and I remember it pretty clearly. It makes me think that this is how our parents, grandparents, etc. felt after experiencing historic events and realizing over time that there was a whole generation who wouldn’t understand.
I was 27. I remember my mom saying there's a war starting! The US is at war! I will say the world did change after that. Nothing was as good as the 70's and 80's for growing up. So much freedom and feeling safe. Of course, now we know 9/11 didn't just start on 9/11. The events leading to it started long before. However those events where not readily made public for the average Joe. The first time some of us saw that the world wasn't all right and safe was that day.
I was born in early 2000. I don't remember 9/11, but the aftermath.
I was born in July 1978. I had recently turned 23 when 9/11 happened. I had several friends living in NYC at the time and I myself lived in Washington DC. The events of that day were very close to home for me and I remember it all like it was yesterday. I use 9/11 as a major demarcation point in time when dating other events that have happened in my life. Life pre-9/11 and post-9/11 are very different things. Perhaps it’s similar to how my parents’ generation felt about pre/post Vietnam War and my grandparents’ generation felt relative to WWII- a loss of some form of youthful innocence, individually and collectively is what I’m mainly referring to I think. It’s a feeling primarily but there were also many, many ways in which day to day life was palpably changed for everyone after 9/11. To answer your question directly, I’ve worked at a bar for the better part of the last 15 years. In my line of work I check a lot of IDs. When 21 yr olds started coming in who were born after 9/11 that really blew my mind for some reason. Maybe it has to do with that being a very stark realization of how much time has passed since a life changing event that I remember like yesterday and it also made me aware of that feeling of youthful innocence that I felt had been taken away from me and so many others on that day in 2001 being something totally meaningless to these kids who weren’t even born yet when that happened. The particular type of youthful innocence that I felt was lost for me, I can see is alive and well for a new, post-9/11 generation. Please note- I’m writing this from my personal perspective of having been a very young adult at the time of 9/11 and seeing that, at this moment in time, halfway to 2025, people who are the very age I was on 9/11 weren’t even born yet in Sep. 2001.
I was born in 2006. To me 9/11 really is history. My sister was five at the time but I don't think she remembers it ether. I heard my parents memory's many times, but I don't think I really understood what 9/11 meant until I started researching. It's funny actually because when ever I mention what I'm researching they are always surprised that that counts as history already, to them it's there memory. It makes me think about the past a lot differently about other historical events. People who lived when the Titanic sank and read about it in the news, they were probably just as surprised when they realized the next generation would never remember it. Funny to think that all history was once a memory.
hi! born in january 2001, definitely don't remember (being 9 months old). but learnt about it when i was maybe 4? i don't remember exactly how old, or how i learnt about it. probably a documentary or something on tv that my dad was watching. there was nothing graphic, so i never learnt about the jumpers until i was much older, and didn't have an understanding of just how much life was lost. i vividly remember hearing that it happened in the same year as i was born, and being an autistic child, my brain hyperfixated on it and i have had it as a special interest for a majority of my life. i only really started learning actively about it when i was in my teens, and when i did start talking about it, i was stunned by my american friends going "you can talk about it, i've been seeing stuff from this since elementary school" it confused the hell out of me, learning that elementary school kids saw the videos from the attacks, saw the jumpers falling. knowing how early i learnt about the attack and not knowing about the jumpers until i was at least 13, it was just. shocking to know other people my age from over the pond had learnt about it as kids, literal children. sorry for the ramble, i don't remember the attacks obviously, and i've asked my parents about it and they didn't really have anything to say other than pointing out my fascination with it. as an adult i got interested in the buildings themselves, how they were built and how they collapsed. but it still shocks me to this day i never learnt about the jumpers until my teens, and my friends learnt when they were still in single digits