Sept. 11 Generations Apart: What Happens When It’s No Longer a Living Memory?

Fear. Scared.

Emotional, strong words still come from the mouths of the people for whom 9/11 is a living memory, even 25 years later. They also remember a country united, at first, and what came later, controversial wars and more security.

But how do people who weren’t born yet experience the anniversary? Differently, as it turns out. They experience it less emotionally, may be more likely to believe conspiracy theories about the attacks, and focus more on the aftermath, including discrimination against Muslims and the country’s Middle East foreign policy.

A team of student journalists set out to interview two people each: Someone who was alive when the planes hit the World Trade Centers, Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. And someone who wasn’t.

One Day a Year

While trying to navigate the frenzy as the creative director of a long-anticipated corporate executive photoshoot, Casey Jelinski noticed a small crowd forming in the break room.

Jelinski, 51, is a graphic designer from Green Bay, Wisconsin. She was working in Minneapolis during the Sept. 11 attacks.

“We went over and caught the feed of what was happening on the news, and we looked at each other like, ‘this is going to ruin our shoot,’” said Jelinski.

After months of planning, trying to get all the executives in Minneapolis at the same time, Jelinski and her partner, Mike Hendrickson, did not want to miss the shoot.

“It hit us both at the exact same moment,” said Jelinski. “That is not the right thing to do. This is a moment when people have to stop and call their family. We can’t have them fake smiling at a camera when we know what’s happening behind the scenes.”

The attacks famously united Americans in the following years, leading public support to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The lasting effect on a personal level is often forgotten or ignored.

“To this day, 25 years later, including this year, that photographer (Hendrickson) and I have remained friends,” said Jelinski. “We may not talk for a whole year, but on Sept. 11, we always connect. I might not think of him 364 days of the year, but when Sept. 11 happens, I think of him.”

Jelinski also remembers the Sept. 11 attacks as a turning point in her generation’s trust in the government. She wonders if lives would have been saved during the COVID-19 pandemic if not for this loss of trust.

“I wonder if American citizens would have trusted the information they were getting from their government more if they hadn’t spent the last 20 years finding out they had been lied to so much on a national level after 9/11,” said Jelinski.

-Levi Jelinski

‘I Was Born Because of 9/11’

Kadyn Shaw, a 20-year-old Kinesiology major at UW-Milwaukee, was not alive during the Sept. 11 attacks, yet they still completely shaped his life. This fact is not always obvious to him.

“It’s hard for me to say that 9/11 has affected my life besides my experiences at airports,” said Shaw.

As someone who has only ever known a post-9/11 world, it is hard for him to see the direct effects of the attacks. But his parents both joined the U.S. Army after 9/11.

The Army is where they met and had their two children while serving. Shaw was born outside of Seattle, moved around for a few years and eventually settled down in Green Bay.

“I don’t even think about that,” said Shaw. “I was born because of 9/11.”

He is aware of the cultural difference between those who remember the attacks and those who only know it as history.

“I think adults are probably a lot more sensitive about the topic compared to people my age or teenagers and kids,” said Shaw. “9/11 is one of those things where it’s like you’re either touchy on the subject or you can make jokes about.”

As someone who grew up with both parents in the military, he appreciates their sacrifices to help Americans try to regain their sense of safety.

“I think the biggest takeaway from 9/11 is that we as a country should be grateful for our safety at all times,” said Shaw. “9/11 was a wake-up call to everybody, that even in our own home we may not be necessarily safe from outside attacks.”

-Levi Jelinski

‘It Makes Me So Sad’

Sept. 11, 2001, America faced a horrible tragedy taking the lives of thousands of Americans. The day that changed America forever. Now we have reached a point where a good number of Americans don’t remember or weren’t alive during the tragedy.

Sara Doyle, 45, is a Madison, Wisconsin, native who was driving to work on the morning of Sept. 11, listening to the radio utter the words of a plane crashing into one of the World Trade Centers in New York City.

Doyle worked at a salon in the Madison area, and after arriving, she immediately ran to the break room, where it was silent, and all of her colleagues were silently watching the live news coverage. People kept canceling their appointments for the day, and no one moved from that back break room.

“We were just waiting and waiting to see if there were more planes, because we didn’t know,” said Doyle. “It wasn’t until 24 hours later that all of the planes had been grounded and accounted for.” Days after Sept. 11, all she did at work was watch the live news coverage of people cleaning up debris and looking for victims.

Sara was asked how she felt about Sept. 11 being 25 years ago now. “It makes me so sad because we have fallen so far apart from where we were 25 years ago,” said Doyle

This tragedy had such an impact on us as a nation. It changed the country in so many ways. “The government keeping so many things about 9/11 secret has definitely fueled a lot of conspiracy theories,” said Doyle.

After 25 years, all generations need to understand the impact of Sept. 11. It is also important how we choose to perceive terrorist attacks. “The one thing I can tell you, the coverage during that time was just so raw,” said Doyle. “When you heard people hitting the pavement on the TV, you knew that it was the realest thing you had ever seen.”

-Isabelle Doyle

People ‘Don’t Really Bring It Up as Much Anymore’

As each year passes, more and more Americans don’t remember the tragedy that was Sept. 11, 2001. Avery Gerothonas, 20, a junior at UW-Milwaukee studying psychology, was not alive during the events of Sept. 11. But the younger generation has been told and taught so many things about that horrific day.

With it being 25 years since that day, we learn more and more how it has impacted those around us and what it means to people. “I feel like people don’t really bring it up as much anymore, especially with how devastating it was for the country,” said Avery Gerothonas. “I mean we learned about it in school, but I feel it’s not something that has been discussed as much over the past few years.”

Sept. 11 changed so much about us as a country afterwards. “I mean TSA guidelines, you can even see the effect of the event in shows like Friends,” said Gerothonas. “It’s taught a lot of Americans to fear.”

The younger generations only know about Sept. 11 through what they learn in school; therefore, it inspires younger generations to research these events and get roped into conspiracy theories.

“I have done my own research, and in middle school I would learn about conspiracy theories on YouTube,” said Gerothonas. “I no longer think it was staged; I have grown from that.”

“When you witness something happen, you know all of the nuances of the situation,” on the different perspectives between generations about Sept. 11.

“I think it would be a very different country without the events of 9/11; our relationship with the Middle East would also be entirely different,” said Gerothanas on how different the U.S. would be without the events of Sept. 11.

-Isabelle Doyle

The Twin Towers to Storming the Capitol

Timothy Harried, a 58-year-old microbiologist, sits in his car as a little sprinkle of rain pours down, parked next to a vacant playground. The lack of children goofing around and the emanating
emptiness matches the haunting silence of the 9/11 aftermath, devoid and missing something once full of life.

He just got some Mexican food this gloomy Sunday morning with his daughter, talking politics and movies over margaritas and enchiladas. With the bustling restaurant too loud for a proper
interview, the two move to a much more fitting setting.

He starts by talking about how security has tightened, not knowing if this change was a good or bad move. He remarks, “You could show up 10 minutes before your flight and just get on the plane. Family members could wait at your gate to say farewell. It was a much easier process. Now it’s two hours minimum to get through. It’s less personal.”

In all honesty, he does not think the country has learned much in response (besides increasing surveillance), referencing our continued reliance on Middle Eastern oil and activity as a police
force there. He discusses how we influence other states based on the resources we need.

“Obviously, the country is in a different spot because of the polarization of our politics. I think

there was unity back then. We came together. I hoped this solidarity would help people heal a bit more. But I do not believe we’re in a good situation at this point. I don’t think there was a lesson from Sept. 11. The event is used more as fear.”

He also brings up discrimination against Arab and Muslim people in the wake of the tragedy. He expands on this sentiment, sharing, “A great example is how the mayor of New York City [Zohran Mamdani] was asked not to attend a memorial, even though he was a grade schooler and had nothing to do with Al-Qaeda. Just because of his religious beliefs, he has been targeted.”

He additionally breaks down his day, reliving that fateful moment. He was supposed to have a sales call down in Dallas, Texas. He woke up at 8 a.m. as usual, conducting his normal routine of brushing his teeth and turning on the news.

“At the time, we didn’t have the internet. You got most of your headlines from the newspaper or early morning TV report. That’s what I had on when I saw everything unfold in front of me. I
called my customer and told them I was not coming in. I sat the whole day watching the events in a hotel room by myself.”

In describing how the invoked feeling of personally living through and witnessing this horrible footage in real time, he confesses, “I think if you were alive and watching, you have a different perspective. It’s not any different than what happened with Donald Trump supporters storming the Capitol and the Senate. We all saw it. But today’s internet will flip it. Unfortunately, it causes a lot of untruths and conspiracy theories to be told.”

Upon summing up the attack in one word, he decides on horrifying. He considers the large number of people who passed away, besides the disappointing United States invasion into the Middle East. He ends on a saddening note, proclaiming, “It’s not about the community. It’s not about global welfare. It’s about the individual needs of a certain country.”

-Piper Harried

Years of Internet Discourse Make Sept.11 Feel Unreal to College Senior

Jenna Lafond does not have a living memory of Sept 11. 2001. For the UWM Senior, the attacks exist through history classes, airport rules, and a culture that has had people look at this tragedy and make jokes.

When asked what lesson the country learned from Sept.11, Lafond, 22, a senior at UW-Milwaukee who is from Green Bay, immediately pointed to the Transportation Security Administration. The security rules still in place in American airports is a clear way that Sept.11 still affects her life when she travels.

Lafond said she understands why some people remain nervous in airports, although she questioned whether every little security measure has been necessary. She compared U.S. procedures to travel in other countries, where passengers may not face the same exact security measures.

The emotional distance between how someone who saw the event in front of them compared to those who were born after is shown when she thinks about the attacks themselves. Lafond said being born too late to remember the day changes how she views it.

“Because I don’t take it seriously,” she said, explaining that Sept.11 does not feel as direct to her as it might be to someone who has seen the event happen.

When asked to sum up Sept.11 in one word, Lafond hesitated before saying “funny.” She quickly distanced the answer from the almost 3,000 death toll.

“I don’t think their death is funny,” Lafond said. “I just think there’s so many jokes about it, and it just, it doesn’t feel real.”

Her answer draws up the generational difference of viewing the major event. For people who remember Sept.11, the emotions may still be shocked and fear to this day. For someone who only knows it as a historical event, the thoughts can be formed mixed with memes, jokes and other references to the event years later after the event itself.

-Faiz Sajjad

‘The Moment That Changed America Forever’

Rosemary Cook, a 20-year-old psych major at UWM, sits surrounded by cheetah-print pillows and velvet blankets. She tries to imagine the moment that changed America forever, her floor
covered in gyaru-inspired fashion and various makeup supplies. A maroon canopy looms overhead, like a protective shield safeguarding against the cold air outside, creating a cocoon
from the rest of the worries of the world.

She right away asserts her concern for Middle Eastern people in the ensuing reaction to 9/11, mentioning the numerous offensive stereotypes that spawned as a result. She brings to mind
images of airplanes and bombers. While still stating the event is an obvious tragedy, she remarks on the widespread racism felt heavily afterwards.

“I see this stuff [stereotypes] definitely online, frequently and casually. The first time I remember somebody saying a racist remark was on The Simpsons. I feel like this kind of thing is always
reflected on television.”

Growing up in Middle America, she opens up about learning about the incident in public school and from her parents. As a kid, she initially focused on the attack itself and how many people died.

“I think people who experienced it firsthand, seeing it on TV, definitely have more fear. Everyone remembers exactly where they were, because it was such an up-close and personal event. We’re not used to these kinds of things in America.”

In adulthood, she later shifted towards educating herself on the bigotry that ensued later on, such as how the United States military killed potentially hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens.

“The older generation might not focus on the stereotypes and genocides that came from it. The lessons we learned about that [9/11] reflect more on our population and how we view people in
the face of danger, how we usually treat others of different races badly for any reason.”

Ultimately, in describing the day in one word, she settles on telling. While the internet might water down and laugh about the circumstances with jokes, she recognizes the lingering impact.

“It definitely shows who we are as a nation, based on our reactions and the military response afterwards.”

-Piper Harried

Courtney Sanchez Remembers a Day That Changed America

Courtney Sanchez, 48, of Greendale, Wisconsin, was working as a hospital manager when the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks happened. Twenty-five years later, she still remembers how a normal day quickly turned into a day of fear and uncertainty.

Sanchez said she first heard about the attacks while she was at work. At first, she thought the first plane crash was an accident. When she learned that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center, she realized the country was under attack.

“I remember everyone trying to figure out what was happening,” Sanchez said. “People were watching the news and calling their families. There was so much uncertainty because nobody knew if another attack was coming.”

Working at a hospital also made Sanchez think about the first responders and medical workers who were dealing with the attacks in New York. She said the situation made her think about how quickly medical workers can be called to help during a major emergency.

Sanchez said one of the biggest lessons America learned from Sept. 11 was that people can come together during a crisis. She remembers seeing Americans help each other and show support for first responders and military members.

“For a while, it felt like everyone was on the same side,” Sanchez said. “People were putting their differences aside and helping each other. I think that is something we should remember.”

Sanchez said she thinks the way Sept. 11 is remembered today has changed. In the years immediately after the attacks, she said the event felt much closer and was talked about constantly. Today, she said younger people may know what happened without having the same emotional connection.

She said she worries that Sept. 11 could eventually become just another historical event for people who were not alive or old enough to remember it.

“I think the biggest difference is that time has created some distance,” Sanchez said. “People who lived through it remember exactly where they were. Younger people know the history, but they don’t have that personal memory.”

Sanchez said she wants younger generations to understand that Sept. 11 involved real people and families, not just statistics. She said learning about the victims and hearing personal stories can help keep the meaning of the day alive.

“If I could tell younger people one thing, it would be to remember the people behind the numbers,” Sanchez said. “Every person who died had a family and people who loved them.”

If Sanchez had to describe Sept. 11 in one word, she chose “unforgettable.” She said 25 years later, the country has changed, but remembering what happened remains important.

-Cody Christopher Sanchez

Learning About a Day She Never Experienced

Paige Terpstra has never watched the towers fall in real time. She has never woken up to the sound of breaking news on Sept. 11, 2001, or experienced a deafeningly silent classroom as a teacher turned on the TV.

Instead, Paige has grown up seeing the day through other people’s viewpoints.

Terpstra, 21, of Cuba City, Wisconsin, is a University of Wisconsin-Platteville student studying marketing and works as a waitress. For her generation, Sept. 11 is something learned rather than remembered.

Her first lessons came from school, where history teachers talked about what happened through lectures. In English class, she read articles and wrote about what she had learned.

But as Paige got older, those lessons became shorter and shorter.

She remembers learning about Sept. 11 more when she was younger. By her senior year of high school, she said, teachers barely touched on it. Now in college, she said the attacks are hardly mentioned at all.

“I feel like schools, from my experience, used to teach about it way more than they do now,” Paige said.

So Paige has turned to her phone as another classroom, where stories from survivors, families and people who lived through the attacks continue to appear years later.

Some images have stayed with her more than others. She remembers a woman covered in dust. She remembers images of people jumping from the World Trade Center.

Those images are difficult to separate from the history itself. Paige did not see them as breaking news, but they have become part of the way she imagines what that morning looked like.

“I think social media has influenced the way I view 9/11 because I feel like each year another story comes out,” Paige said. “You hear about people who were affected by it that you hadn’t heard or learned about in school.”

Paige believes there is a difference between knowing what happened and knowing what it felt like to be there. Someone who watched the attacks unfold carries a memory that cannot be recreated by a photograph, a lecture or a social media post.

“I can understand that, but I’ll never quite understand the actual impact,” Paige said.

Still, Paige believes the emotional distance should not prevent younger generations from learning from Sept. 11. To her, one of the most important lessons is that tragedy should bring people together instead of giving people another reason to hate one another.

“I think that this event in our history should be something that brings our country together rather than using it to spread hate against a certain group of people,” Paige said.

That lesson feels especially important as Sept. 11 becomes more distant for people her age. The people who remember the morning firsthand are growing older, while a new generation is learning about it from the stories they leave behind.

Paige said those stories matter because every new story gives her another piece of a day she can never personally remember.

If Paige had to describe Sept. 11 in one word, she would choose “pivotal.”

It is a word that fits the unknowing place Sept. 11 holds in her life. The attacks happened before she was born, but their consequences became part of the country she grew up in.

-Bailey Stephenson

John Pankowski Learns About 9/11 From History

John Pankowski, 20, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was too young to remember Sept. 11, 2001. Now a college student, Pankowski has learned about the attacks through school, documentaries, news reports and conversations with people who remember the day.

Pankowski said he knows the basic facts about the attacks, including that terrorists hijacked four airplanes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. However, he said knowing the facts is different from actually remembering the day.

“I know what happened, but I don’t have a memory of watching it happen,” Pankowski said. “For me, it has always been something I learned about from other people.”

Pankowski said he first learned about Sept. 11 when he was in school. As he got older, he began to understand the larger impact of the attacks and the changes that followed in the United States.

He said one of the main lessons from Sept. 11 is that major events can affect a country for generations. He also said the response from first responders showed how people can risk their own lives to help others.

Pankowski believes being too young to remember Sept. 11 does affect the way someone views the attacks. He said people who remember the day personally probably have a stronger emotional connection than people who only know about it through history.

“I think it does make a difference,” Pankowski said. “Someone who remembers being scared that day has a different connection to it than someone who learned about it years later.”

Pankowski said he also thinks the way Sept. 11 is remembered has changed as time has passed. For his generation, he said the attacks are becoming more like a historical event than a personal memory.

“When I talk to older people about it, they can tell me exactly where they were and what they were doing,” Pankowski said. “I can’t do that because I was too young. I think that is the biggest difference between our generations.”

Pankowski said he wishes younger people would take the time to learn more about the people who were affected instead of only learning the basic facts about the attacks.

“I think people my age should understand that it wasn’t just something that happened on TV,” Pankowski said. “It changed people’s lives and changed the country.”

If Pankowski had to describe Sept. 11 in one word, he chose “tragic.” He said the 25th anniversary is a chance for younger Americans to learn from people who remember the attacks and to understand why the event continues to matter.

-Cody Christopher Sanchez

The Memories of Young and Old

Colin Whalen is a 23-year-old from Wauwatosa who was notably too young to have experienced the events of 9/11; the events are firmly seen as just history to him, but still a very important
piece of history that has led to events that have certainly had an effect on his life.

When asked about what we learned from 9/11, he said, “We shouldn’t be meddling in the Middle East and making enemies,” which does relate to a very popular idea in a lot of modern people
who don’t remember 9/11 of 9/11 being something that could have been predicted, or at least aterror attack of its scale, especially since one had already occurred in the World Trade Center
before.

Despite not being alive, a lot of newer generations know a lot about the event, including Colin, like all the statistics from the attack, like the deaths, and all the events that came about as a result of the attacks, such as Iraq and many more things.

When asked for one word to describe the events, Colin said “foreseen,” relating to the ideas he presented earlier in the interview with his response to question one. As is now commonly
known, Osama bin Laden was at one point a US ally during the soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The most substantial effect that he mentioned that he has directly encountered was “ how almost everywhere you travel is painful to deal with because everything got more secure from 9/11,” which does seem to be a common thought with the world after 9/11.

The renovation of the TSA, the invention of the Department of Homeland Security, and the general greater security is something that can be seen even if you don’t know a time before it. Something that many younger people can never really understand is the loss of innocence that the event had.

From an older perspective, Jennifer Dorr, age 46, also pointed out the stricter air travel as a major effect of the event, but that was also the first thing that was mentioned. Unlike Colin, Jennifer mentioned something that affected her directly first before following with the statement of the event leading to “Better intelligence sharing between Countries.”

Jennifer, being older, does actually remember the day, stating, “We were in college in the weight room, and I saw the second plane hit live on the news. I knew then that it was already a bad situation, but seeing that live made me scared. Classes were canceled for the day at the university, and parents and students kept trying to call each other all day but couldn’t get through because everyone was on the phones.”

Her description of that day truly solidifies how that day isn’t like any other in America, and the impact it had on the people who remember it cannot truly be completely understood by people
who never went through it.

It is worth mentioning, however, that a lot of the shock from 9/11 was the shattering of the idea that we are safe on American soil. Millions of people have gone through similar events, but they
did not have the same sense of security we have in the West. This ties back to her answer for what would be one word to describe that day, that word being “Scared.”

All in all, the emotions, or lack thereof, have truly shaped the way a lot of people look back on 9/11; for those who didn’t experience it, it is just another event to look back on, but for others, it was a shock that changed the lives of millions.

-Aidan Dorr

How Generations Remember

One was there the day the nation changed forever, the other was six years away from being born. As Sept. 11, 2001, has now hit 25 years after the horrific plane attacks, it seems to be getting harder to find people who remember the events unfolding.

Kristina Felchuk, 19, was born in 2007, six years after the attack. She only remembers the day through the vivid stories her parents have told her throughout the years.

“I know my mom thinks she was at work, and she felt scared because my dad works in Chicago,” Felchuk said, “So she felt scared that they might hit Chicago next because it’s obviously another major city.”

She also has memories of school bringing up 9/11 since she was very little. It became a reoccurring important topic in her September lesson plans.

“I first remember learning it in third grade?I don’t know, around there. I just knew about the planes, the hijacking,” Felchuk said, “We also had to interview people about 9/11.”

Felchuk had one word to describe the day she never lived.

“Terrifying.”

–Brianna Pettineo

‘Emotional’

Heather Skerven, a teacher from Cudahy, Wisconsin say in her case she remembers 9/11 very well.

“I was working for a county nursing home. I was getting the residents up for their daily activities and was watching the news in one of the rooms with the patients,” Skerven said, “Regis and Kelly were on and that’s when we saw the second plane hit and an employee came running down the hallway yelling that another plane has hit, another plane has hit.”

Not only did it affect her emotional well-being, but she was one of many people whose families were directly affected. Her cousin, Debbie George and her husband were both on a plane home from New York that morning.

“The last picture they took was at 6:15 that morning in front of the towers. So, it was very emotional because we had no idea if their plane was going to make it home or not,” Skerven said, “I don’t remember what state they had to go to, but their plane got to a different state, and it was hours before they came home.”

Both family members were first responders and immediately flew back out to New York upon their return home.

Skerven described the day with one word.

“Emotional.”

-Brianna Pettineo

Failure to Respond

Richard Connell woke up on September 11, 2001, and went to work just like every day. He arrived at Union Station in Chicago with his coworkers to look at the HVAC systems.

Everything was normal, until it was not.

Amid his work, Connell remembers someone rushing down to tell them a plane had just deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center. Suddenly, the windy city was chaos.

People were rushed out of downtown Chicago as officials feared the Sears tower was going down next. After leaving the city and returning to his office, Connell sat around the TV with his coworkers and watched the towers fall.

“For several days after, there was no planes in the air,” Connell said. “America was great and flags were up everywhere. It was a beautiful country, despite the tragedy.”

While admiring the country for its resilience immediately after, Connell’s disbelief of the events never quite vanished. Initially, he could not believe that there were humans capable of doing this. As time progressed, his disbelief moved towards the government and its seeming lack of action.

Connell believes that the government has been too divided in recent decades to take any real action.

“Politicians have lost their way,” Connell said. “They think politics is more important than governing the people who elected them; they’re not worried about the protecting the people, they’re worried about their party.”

Connell’s anger was initially directed to the terrorists who committed this act. While he still feels immense anger towards the people who committed this act of terror, his anger has also shifted towards the people who were supposed to protect the people of America.

-Josie Quirke

Learning From Loss

Tierney Nevermann, 20, was not yet born when the events of Sept.11, 2001, took place. To her, that day is a devastating moment of the nation’s history.

As Nevermann was born in 2006, her recollection of that fateful day is different from someone with a living memory. Her perspective has been shaped by her education and recounted memories from family members.

“Sept. 11 showed how quickly America can come together when others are in need,” Nevermann said. “It also taught us about the importance of preparedness, national security, emergency response and communication.”

While Nevermann feels educated on the topic and acknowledges that the attacks were a terrible moment, she also knows that she does not have the same emotional attachment to the event as someone who experienced that day in real time. She acknowledges that her emotions about that day are different from they would be if she were there.

“I feel sad about how many lives were lost and all of the families who had to experience losing a loved one in the tragedy,” Nevermann said.

Her biggest takeaway is not from what she feels about that day; rather, it is about the loss the country experienced and the lasting impact.

-Josie Quirke

Fifth-Grader Watched Sept. 11 Unfold on TV

Nimra Sweetman was a 10-year-old 5^th grader in her classroom and was ready to leave school early on Sept. 11, 2001.

Sweetman, 35, a Green Bay nurse, remembers her mom picking up and telling her it was one of the worst days in American history. At home, the reality of the attacks became known on television; the World Trade Center towers collapsing and people jumping from the burning buildings.

“It was still really scary,” Sweetman said. “We had never seen anything like that before on TV.”

Twenty-five years later, Sweetman said the attacks still feel “life changing.” She sees Sept. 11 not only as a day of terror but as a key point that led to tighter airport security, the war on Afghanistan and the overall war of terror.

She also remembers the unity she saw around her and the country after attacks. Regardless of political view, she described Americans in general as patriotic, she said, in contrast with the political division in this country now.

“I really do think sometimes, especially recently because of the anniversary, like if this never happened, how the world would look right now,” Sweetman said.

For Sweetman, the difference between remembering Sept 11 for her and how her own daughter Tovah learned about it matters, she talks about how Tovah and other Gen-Z/Gen Alpha children learn about 9/11 through school lessons and books. To them, she said it would be a historical event to them compared to seeing Infront of them.

Asked whether George W. Bush could have prevented the attacks. Sweetman said the responsibility has been on plenty of presidents including him and those before him to prevent this. She pointed to earlier events such as the 1993 World Trade bombings and the long chain of events that led to Sept. 11.

The attacks continue to have a lasting effect on the experience of going to an airport now. Sweetman said security has loosened from the strictest post-Sept. 11 years, but flying remains fundamentally different than the time when airports were more open to public spaces.

-Faiz Sajjad

A Mail Route Turns Into a Memory

The mail still had to be delivered on Sept. 11, 2001. So when Jason Stephenson, 49, of Galena, Illinois, first heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center, he was out on his route that morning, going from mailbox to mailbox like he would on any other ordinary day.

Initially, he did not think he was hearing about an attack. He thought a terrible accident had happened.

“I just thought it was an accident,” Jason said. “I thought it was a plane that got out of control and hit it.”

Then another plane hit, and when it did, a run-of-the-mill workday for Jason came to a halt. What had sounded like an accident was suddenly something much bigger. He was still delivering mail, but the news followed him from one door to the next.

The full magnitude of the morning did not hit Jason until he got home that night. There were no smartphones or social media feeds constantly sending updates. He had spent the day hearing pieces of the story, but television brought all those pieces together.

That was when the reality of the tragedy finally sank in.

Stephenson remembers tears in his eyes. He remembers feeling helpless.

“You felt helpless,” he said.

Twenty-five years later, that feeling is still part of how Jason remembers Sept. 11. But when he thinks about the days that followed, another memory stands out just as strongly: Americans coming together.

“I’ve never seen us come together the way that we did,” Jason said. “For one day, it didn’t matter if you were Black or white or old or young, or what your religion was or if you’re a Democrat or a Republican.”

More than anything, Jason said Sept. 11 taught him not to take ordinary life for granted.

The people who died that day had ordinary plans. They were going to work. They were getting on airplanes. They were starting another morning without knowing they were about to become part of American history.

“Those people were just like people, just like you and me,” Jason said. “We’ve flown, and we go to work, and that’s all they did that day.”

That is what makes the memory personal for Jason. The victims were not simply names attached to a tragedy. They were people who expected to go home that night to their loved ones.

But Jason’s memories of what happened next are more complicated. He believes the unity he saw after Sept. 11 soon evaporated as the country became divided over issues surrounding terrorism, immigration, borders and national security.

“While it brought us together while we were proud as a country,” Jason said, “we found ways to all blame this on each other, and we turned it into a political thing.”

Twenty-five years later, Jason does not remember Sept. 11 simply as the morning two planes hit the World Trade Center. He remembers a mail route that started like any other, the confusion of hearing the first report, the realization after the second plane and the helplessness that came when he finally saw the full story on television.

If Jason had to describe Sept. 11 in one word, he would choose “sad.”

Not only because thousands of people died, but because an ordinary morning turned into a day that changed the country forever.

“I mean, it was probably the worst day of my life,” Jason said.

-Bailey Stephenson