The 9/11 Generationstory liza distefano

co-editor-in-chiefthe ground? Most students reading this remember the day with fuzzy confusion, unable to understand the true magnitude of the event at such a young age. Now that students have gotten older, they watch footage of the day with misty eyes and a heavy heart. But photos of the holocaust produce the same effect, and that certainly doesn’t belong in our gen-eration much less define it. We only know what we do from documentaries and Internet searches, not personal experi-ence or news at the time in either case. The after-effects of the tragedy had us glued to the TV when Osama Bin Laden was killed but, with the excep-tion of knowing a soldier, when was the last time your life was inconvenienced or even touched by any of the actual changes made since that fateful day? The War on Terror saw many student and parent lives alike turned upside down as brothers, cousins and sons went off to fight for their country’s future safety. But even with emotions running deep for the men and women both home and abroad, and thirst for vengeance running high, how many times was this heard: “Who are we fighting again? Iraq? Iran? Afghanistan?” With a war being fought half way across the world, the details, causes, and progress of the war were out of sight, out of mind for a majority of Gen Y, who were only in their elementary and middle schools years. It is not until re-cently that many have tuned in on what’s happening and its implications. September 11th. The War on Terror in Iraq. Even the very recent election of the first black president in United States history, President Obama. This generation knows so little about these events, defining them by it would cra-zy. Just because they lived through it and are aware of the general concept, does not mean it makes them who they are or who they will be. This generation’s future values, experience and ethic will most likely be influenced by lesser but more recent events, not something we know so little about. 9/11 was an undeniable tragedy that will live on forever in the hearts of any American alive at that time. But do not say that such a horrific disaster defines, and therefore describes, this generation. We cannot be defined.

*businessdictionary.com

The generation that will make or break the world. The saviors, or the destroyers. The tech gen. There’s a lot of hype about this generation, as there typically is when trou-bled times seek future heroes to come riding in to the res-cue with their brilliant ideas for change. But who are these up-and-coming future leaders of America? What generation defining events have raised them to be who they are and what they will become? Some would argue, like Eleni Towns writing for the Center of American Progress, this is the September 11th generation. While this was probably the biggest event to occur in Gen Y’s lifetime, a single event cannot define us—or any-one or anything for that matter. Why must the media attempt to label everything, espe-cially when it’s still in the progress of being made, such as this generations major events and accomplishments. A good part, if not a majority of Gen Y’s lives, have been spent in a post-9/11 world of tight airport security, profiling debates and a constant sense of heightened fear for homeland security. Instead of the peace and love, free-thinking vibes of Gen X, we face wars and sorrow for those lost, mixed with constant paranoia of a similar disaster. The list goes on and on of events, social conflicts and changing technology that not only influence, but make up Gen Y. But how much does this generation actually know about the so-called landmark events that years from now, will be written in the 2000s chapter of a history book? The events that claim to define Gen Y do not neces-sarily do them justice. Those born in the 90s, over half of the generation, were not even alive to see the Berlin Wall come down. And to them, Chernobyl is just a level on Call of Duty 4. This generation has grown up struggling through what has been dubbed “The Great Recession”—a time of high unemployment, inflation and faltering corporations. But ask a student what caused this predicament, and receive a blank stare followed by mumbles about “bankruptcy or something…” Where were you when the twin towers crumbled to

Generation Y: generation of people born during the 1980s and 1990s, gener-ally marked by an increased use and fa-miliarity with communications, media, and digital technologies*