A Generation Far Removed

What happens when September 11, 2001, is no longer a living memory to young people coming of age?

That’s happened, as many of today’s college students were babies when the terrorist attacks occurred or not even born.

A team of journalism students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, examined this question. Each student was assigned to interview a person too young to remember the attacks and a person old enough to have lived through them.

There is a difference, they found, when people did not experience 9/11 emotionally. To experience it truly emotionally, you had to live through it, not resort to documentaries or YouTube videos.

People who were adults on Sept. 11, 2001, have searing memories that linger and flooded back on the 21st anniversary: Fleeing a company meeting in New Jersey. Sitting on a sofa in silence. Listening on the radio. Watching the towers fall.

“It was a somber and surreal feeling,” military veteran Greg Krueger, 57, says. “The safe environment we lived in was now in question; like a burglar broke into our house. It felt like our lives were violated. It changed the way I feel in public…”

They described a country changed: More cautious, more security-conscious, headed to war, united in some ways, divided more than ever in others. This is the only United States the younger generations have known.

For older adults, there is only one other trauma etched so sharply in their emotions: The Kennedy assassination.

For the generations born after 9/11 or who were simply too young to remember it, the tragedy is less emotional. Farther removed, they have done their own research to try to understand. Some say they aren’t taught enough about it in school; others chafe at the conspiracy theories that some are too quick to believe.

“I mean, I wasn’t even born yet,” Jeremy Burant says. “I know it was a terrible attack, a tragedy for the whole country, but it’s hard for me to imagine what people were feeling back then because I’m so far removed from it.”

Here are their stories.

Stuck in New Jersey

On Sept. 11, 1998, Ken Gipple’s son was born. Three years later, he was being told to flee his company meeting in New Jersey and find his own way home.

Gipple, 53, of Atlantic, Iowa, is a traveling salesman who typically relies on airplanes to get to different cities.

“I remember being very angry and mad during that whole period,” Gipple said. “I was frustrated because I couldn’t get home right away.”

He feels that to have a personal connection to the fallout of Sept.11, you would have had to experience the fear-filled air of that day or known someone in the fallen towers.

As years are passing by, there are now young adults who were either too young to remember that day or were not born yet. The individuals who started life at the brink of the attacks experienced the crisis of the coronavirus.

“I think that 9/11 was a deliberate attack on our country that was intended to hurt people,” Gipple said. “I think the pandemic has been very bad, but it happened upon the world. It wasn’t just an attack on our country. It wasn’t an attack at all.”

–Anna Marie Gipple

Nothing Will Compare

Max Herubin, 21, is aspiring to work in law enforcement after completing three years of his collegiate baseball career. He grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and now resides in Lake Villa, Illinois.

One month before his first birthday, he was in the care of his babysitter, Nancy, while his parents were at work. Nancy received a call from Herubin’s mother telling her that the World Trade Center towers had been hit by two airplanes.

“I learned very little about 9/11 from school,” Herubin said. “Most of what I know about that day is from watching documentaries and doing my own research.”

Herubin was not old enough to remember the details of that day. From what he’s learned, he refuses to believe anything in his lifetime will compare to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I think comparing something like the coronavirus to 9/11 would be a disservice to the victims of the attack,” Herubin said.

–Anna Marie Gipple

9/11 Anniversary Invokes Memories of Kennedy Assassination

Kay Scheuerell is old enough to remember two defining moments in American history. For her, it’s hard to relive one without mentioning the other. The same feelings of confusion and despair she felt during John F. Kennedy’s assassination were felt during the attack on the twin towers.

“I remember both days very well,” says Scheuerell. “I was at work when the news broke that the president had been assassinated. We all stopped working and tuned into the radio in disbelief.”

Fast forward around 38 years later, and Scheuerell was painting the living room of her newly built home with her husband Jim when news began to break on television that a plane had hit a building in New York.

“We stopped painting and sat on the couch in silence,” says Scheuerell. “I remember screaming when we knew the plane was going for the other building. We didn’t know anything like that could even be done.”

In her opinion, Sept. 11 had less of an effect on Wisconsinites than it did on residents of other states with bigger cities due to the potential of further attacks and uncertainty at airports.  

“The effects of Kennedy’s assassination felt more widespread at the time, but the families of the victims will forever be broken by the 9/11 tragedy,” says Scheuerell.

She describes both days as times that not only altered the United States but her outlook on life as well.

“It changes the way you think,” says Scheuerell. “It makes you more cautious and less trustworthy – are my loved ones going to come home safe from work today?”

-Brian John Kohr Jr.

21-Year-Old Doubts Validity of 9/11 Conspiracies

Joshua Groninger wasn’t even 3-months-old when the planes struck the towers on 9/11. While he wasn’t old enough to experience the terrorist attacks himself, he understands the importance it holds as a major event in our country’s history.

“Myself and others my age have watched documentaries on 9/11 to better understand it,” says Groninger. “It’s important to see how we’ve progressed as a country.”

As Gen Z wasn’t old enough to experience the events firsthand, it seems an increasing amount of young people have developed their own theories as to what actually took place on that fateful day. However, from what Joshua has seen, he doesn’t think those sentiments hold any merit.

“I think 9/11 conspiracies are nonsense,” says Groninger. “I mean think about it – It’s not possible for a president to execute those things and not get caught. I think too much blame is placed on a president when a major event happens.”

In Groninger’s opinion, 9/11 isn’t something that needs extra examination or a carefully constructed think piece. it only needs to be looked at for the tragedy it was.

“It always was and should only be about the people that lost their lives that day,” says Groninger.

-Brian John Kohr Jr.

A Generation Far Removed From 9/11

With the 21^st anniversary of 9/11 comes a new generation of adults detached from the harrowing events of that day. College student Jeremy Burant struggles to connect with past generations’ experiences due to his age.

“I mean, I wasn’t even born yet,” Burant says. “I know it was a terrible attack, a tragedy for the whole country, but it’s hard for me to imagine what people were feeling back then because I’m so far removed from it.”

Jeremy Burant, 20, originally from Waukesha, WI, is a junior at UW-Milwaukee studying finance. He first learned about 9/11 in grade school during an anniversary event, where teachers told him he wasn’t old enough to understand but shared their experiences of that day with him. Today, Burant says that he sees 9/11 as more of a history topic.

“Obviously, 9/11 is very different from something like the Revolution or the Civil War, but it’s a different response when you are here to experience something like that,” says Burant. “Something that I’ve lived through, like the Boston bombings, gives me much more of an emotional response because I remember seeing it on the news in my living room.”

Burant says that he still thinks the memories, lessons, and emotions tethered to 9/11 are important to teach new generations about. In fact, he is concerned there is a fleeting understanding of the event that will continue in the future.

“I just wonder what people will understand about 9/11 in 50, 70 or 100 years from then,” Burant says. “Most people wouldn’t have been alive to remember it; I feel like emotional responses will drop and it’ll have less significance in our society.”

Despite these concerns, Burant says he sees similarities between the impact 9/11 had on America and the responses to the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

“They both had everyone in the country, the world, talking about one thing. It united some people, but divided others,” Burant says. “They both had people feeling extremes, in one way or another.”

If you had to sum up 9/11 in one word, what would it be?

“Tragic.”

-Lauren Krueger

9/11 Felt like a Burglar Broke into Our House

Greg Krueger, 57, from Lindstrom, MN, is the V.P. of Operations at a manufacturing company and a U.S. military veteran who served in the 1980s. His prior military experience made 9/11 feel more like a personal breach of what he thought was the safest country in the world.

“It was a somber and surreal feeling,” Krueger says. “The safe environment we lived in was now in question; like a burglar broke into our house. It felt like our lives were violated. It changed the way I feel in public… I traveled internationally quite a bit and flew several times a week back then, and I remember the weird feeling of not seeing planes in the sky for days. I didn’t travel by air for months.”

On the morning of 9/11, Krueger was on his way to work in Chicago when he was halted by police at the parking lot gates. They told him to go home in case of terrorist threats reaching the Chicago area, so he did; he watched the towers fall on his living room TV soon after.

“The world changed on 9/11,” says Krueger. “It changed our trust in the person next to us, trust in crowds, trust in big cities and trust globally.”

As a veteran, Krueger felt a collective responsibility for the protection of the country and the American lives lost that day. “After being a part of the military, knowing what we know, you can’t help but feel like we failed that day,” Krueger says.

After the recent departure of American troops from Afghanistan, many U.S. citizens have polarized views on the conflict. Krueger has mixed feelings about it.

“It was a poorly executed plan,” says Krueger. “It could have been conducted in a more systemic and safe way, but even then, I feel that U.S. casualties would have probably still been the result.”

When asked about how he views the future of America after 9/11, Krueger was unsure that our country had changed in ways to prevent future attacks.

“I feel like history will repeat itself, unfortunately,” Krueger says. “Maybe there are efforts against terror that I am not aware of. But I feel that the world today is even less stable, more like a ticking time bomb, ready for another attack.”

If you had to sum up 9/11 in one word, what would it be?

“Humbling.”

-Lauren Krueger

‘It Created Division’

Pam Alpert was sitting in her kitchen in Bronx, New York where she attended Fordham University where she had been interrupted  after drinking her morning tea when the news broke out  about 9/11.

“At the time I had colleagues and people from other companies I worked with in my career with sales who were Middle Eastern and for a while after the tragedy people in the office were treating them differently, which wasn’t right, but many of us were scared. It created a division.”

Alpert talks about her experience remembering 9/11 and how she thinks it impacted the world long after the tragedy.

“The people who were old enough to remember 9/11 will probably never forget how they felt when they first heard the news. It’s a feeling I can’t fully put into words. I couldn’t speak at first and I was in disbelief with the things I was hearing. It will be a time I won’t be able to erase from my memory. It was devastating to put it best.”

“I would say this event created a lot of disparities for people who are middle eastern and I think this took a really long time for our country to move forward and understand that it should not be tolerated. I know many people had spiraling emotions after the attack. This country needed time to recover. Many were hurting and a lot of us had lost trust in people, especially those who were different from them. I do believe that race was a big factor.”

-Mackenzie Krueger

Generational Trauma

“The main impact that it’s had on the US would be better security, caution and trust. I feel like people don’t trust other people as much and are way more cautious in all places whether it’s travel or just going to an event or being at school.”

Bennet was not alive during 9/11. She shares how her generation’s feelings about the event may be different from someone who was old enough to remember how they felt.

“My first memory of hearing about 9/11 was in school and we would talk about it every year on the date, but it’s not talked about a lot when it’s not 9/11. I just remember my teachers taking it very seriously and making sure we knew about the history. I feel like people in my age group didn’t really get it because the impact of 9/11 has been a part of our lives our whole lives.”

“I think the people who were actually alive and can remember that day were seeing it happen and that’s generational trauma. It’s similar to how my generation lived through the pandemic. The people who were around during 9/11 are more connected to it and probably feel like they need to take action and educate the younger generations so it doesn’t happen again”

Bennet feels the topic is important but doesn’t spend much time thinking about it except for on the anniversary. 

“For people my age, terrorism happens all the time and it’s almost normal to us because weve grown up hearing about a number pf tragic events that keep happening.”

“I’d explain 9/11 as scary.” I see the date and I think, “Oh it’s 9/11” and I have this weird feeling. Everyone sees it as a day of remembrance, but it’s not like it’s constantly on my mind and it’s not that it means less to people who didn’t live through it, but it has less of an impact than someone who did.”

-Mackenzie Krueger

A College Newspaper Editor

It has been 21 years since Michael Mirer was editor of the newspaper at Columbia University when the worst terrorist attack in American history claimed the lives of 2977 people.

“It’s a day I will always remember. It was a bizarre moment, a mix of ordinary life and an extraordinary event.” said Mirer, “I have some memory of walking around campus around noon to 1 p.m. How surreal it was to be on my college campus on 116^th St in Manhattan. Some 7 to 8 miles away from ground zero.”

Mirer went on with his day trying to finish the newspaper for the next day. They managed to send it to the printers that night but were not able to pick it up. Everything from Barclay St. was closed for days following the attacks.

“It’s always in the back of my head, but not actively thinking about daily,” said Mirer, “Because it was such an outlier event, I am actually more afraid of the low-level daily violence that is provident.”

Mirer now 42 is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is upset with the treatment by society and politicians towards the first responders and volunteers who helped clear the debris and bodies off the streets.

“Many people don’t want to pay for the treatments of those whom they call heroes. Because they are heroes they chose to sacrifice and because they sacrificed willingly others should not pay for their decisions.”

“In moments of crisis it is important to zero in on the collective decisions taken by our leaders quickly,” advised Mirer. “It is natural to want to react, but emotions should not take the helm for decision-making after tragic events.”

-Rosendo Antonio Mar Juarez

No Memory of 9/11

Summer Smith Hays is a 22-year-old from Milwaukee. She was a little over a year when September 11 happened. When asked if she remembered 9/11, she answered “No.”

9/11 was over 2 decades ago. There are adults that remember the attacks well but others were either babies or not even born yet. It has quite literally been a lifetime ago since the horrific tragedy. Everything to people from 2000 till now is all living in a post-9/11 world.

“I have been told of 9/11 by my mom,” said Ms. Hays “She was holding me while she was at work because she used to take me to work often. So, all my memories come from her recollection of me.”

Hays further explains that any memories from the event feel like false memories. She believes that the stories of her mom and what she learned in school have given her what she believes to be a memory of the day. Due to her “ghost memories,” she has “ghost feelings”.

“In grade school, they really hammered 9/11 into us,” said Hays “To take a few minutes of silence to remember the victims, and it’s something I respect. Ultimately it is not something that is heavy on my mind to me.”

Hays added, “It obviously does not have the same effect on me as it would have on my mother or someone who was older.”

“I have seen people discuss it online and many have no real feelings about the event. Those who do are usually saying something because it has become a norm,” said Hays “It is something we weren’t there for, and understanding the concept of 9/11 is weird.”

-Rosendo Antonio Mar Juarez

No Generation Unharmed

“Every year in elementary school, it was normal to take that day to just stop and remember,” said 20-year-old Andrea Bravo. “To see the videos every year as a child was pretty traumatic.” 

Children growing up in a country post 9/11 United States have faced a country that has been filled with fear. They do not know what a world looks like where its residents do not live in fear of violence from both outside and inside forces.

“I doubt my mom grew up thinking that could happen to her, until it did,” said Bravo. “it was a lesson, it’s how we see it.”

Many think the use of social media contributes to this generation’s desensitization and passive attitude towards tragic events, but Bravo attributes it to constantly feeling under attack.

She points out that school children after 9/11 also have to deal with the constant threat of mass shootings. Both inside of school and outside in public areas Americans are increasingly more traumatized by violence.

“We aren’t free anymore,” said Bravo. “We’re hyper aware of what could happen at any time,  violence, guns, attacks are a constant thing.”

-Maria Peralta-Arellano

How Things Have Changed

The morning the towers fell Teresa Beiersdorf, 50, recalls sitting on the couch and watching television. She flipped on the news and recalls seeing the current news story being interrupted, and then she saw the towers fall.

“I remember just wanting to cry, there were kids in that building, a whole daycare on the bottom floor I believe,” she said.

Beiersdof describes the day as surreal, almost as if it was a scene from a movie

“I feel as if I want to cry when thinking about it, and when I hear others making jokes,” she said.

With new generations growing up with more time in between them and the tragedy, jokes of the event have become more acceptable. Many view the attack as just a historical event, forgetting the millions that have lost a loved one or will experience lasting effects from that day.

Beiersdorf also notes that had the terrorist attack had not happened the country could possibly not be struggling with feeling secure in the country.

-Maria Peralta-Arellano

Vietnam Veteran Believes We Should Never Let Our Guard Down

Vietnam Veteran Gary Saxe believes 9/11 could have been completely avoided. At the time, security in the airports was not as strict as it is now since we learned our lesson. If security was the same back then this could have been avoided.

On September 11, 2001, when the plane hit the first tower, Saxe was sitting in a parking lot waiting to interview the first of the seven largest oil drillers in the world.

“When I was sitting it was very hard to get my interview completed with the team I was supposed to talk to because of the attention towards the news and what was going on,” says Saxe

At age 20 Saxe enlisted in the military and was sent to Vietnam. This changed his entire perspective on war, he lived through it. This reflects how he feels about the United States and Afghanistan.

“My opinion about us being in Afghanistan is much like any country that we go to try to assist them in maintaining a democracy within their own country. Sometimes I feel that there are other ways that we could have assisted them as far as how we left and when we left, coming from one who was in Vietnam and saw what happened there,” says Saxe.

Saxe thinks that we must continually remind ourselves as a country that we are vulnerable. We can not let our guard down.

–Nicholas Sanfelippo

We Should Have Been Prepared

Alonzo Sanchez, 21, believes 9/11 could have been avoided if we simply left other countries alone in terms of fiddling with their recourse.

“We shouldn’t mess with other countries riches in oil, especially when they have several warnings.” says Sanchez

Sanchez was only a few months old when 9/11 happened, so he only knows about it through what he was told through school, his parents, friends, and the internet. But he believes there may still be some hidden facts citizens don’t know.

The United States went to Afghanistan because of 9/11, but we stayed there for a while after Osama Bin Laden was killed for counter-terrorism purposes. But were we there too long?

“It made sense at first but then the longer we stayed the more you realize we were looked at as the villains to the people of Afghanistan; we were there too long.” says Sanchez

Sanchez concluded, 9/11 changed not just America, but the entire world as it opened up a sense of vulnerability that no one saw coming.

–Nicholas Sanfelippo

Empathy Rather than Sympathy

Alyssa Fehrman, 21, is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee studying Global Management and Italian. Although she does not remember the attack on the World Trade Center and Flight 93, she has felt the lasting effects.

“We are kind of a weird generation because we were alive, but we don’t remember the events of 9/11 because we were babies,” said Fehrman. “I feel like we grew up in a time where we witnessed the people who did experience 9/11 have a sad remembrance and mourn people they knew.”

She also spoke about how her generation misapprehends how life functioned before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The entire country was shocked by these events and took action to give themselves more peace of mind. The outstanding repercussion of 9/11 in Fehrman’s experience would be concerning travel.

“I think 9/11 has given us an international fear,” said Fehrman. “I do not remember internationally traveling as an infant, but I heard it is a long process to travel abroad now because of security issues and general worry about who you are letting into your country and why.”

Although she did not witness the traumatizing events of 9/11, she understands the fear and lasting impacts.

“Obviously, if you were there to experience something, it would affect you differently than someone who was not there to experience the event,” said Fehrman.

-Margaret Cody

Unity from Tragedy

Jill Barbeau, 71, went to work on Sept. 11, 2001. She was sitting at her desk when her coworker told her a plane had hit the World Trade Center.

“Then she came back and said another plane hit which led me to believe we were under attack,” said Barbeau. “The internet was still coming to be at this time. I got on my computer to get onto a news site, and it took 1.5 hours to get on news sites because there was such heavy traffic.”

She admits that she still remembers the fear she felt on 9/11 like it was yesterday. She called everyone she cared about to make sure they were safe. Barbeau said living through 9/11 made her realize that the United States is still susceptible to terrorism. 

“I think younger people have false safeness in this country because the different entities, like the FBI and Secret Service, do a good job trying to keep other attacks at bay,” Barbeau said. “From things I have read, there have been many times we were in danger, but they thwarted it before it happened. I am more afraid of a terrorist attack in the United States by a crazy person, like a mass shooting, than I am of a terrorist.”

Fear is a powerful emotion. In the case of 9/11, citizens rallied to show up for their country and those personally affected by 9/11. As years have gone by, she has noticed a decline in

Patriotism. Barbeau fears another tragedy is the only way to achieve unity within the United States.

-Margaret Cody

Phone Call from a Colleague 

Brad Feigles, a 50-year-old teacher from Wilson, Wisconsin, was in his classroom on Sept. 11, 2001 when he received a phone call that he remembers vividly to this day.

“I had just finished a class when the phone was ringing in the office and one of my colleagues was starting a class out in our room,” Feigles said. “I walked into the office and I picked up the phone, and one of my colleagues had said that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center.”

He initially thought that his colleague was referring to a local pilot flying a small plane, not yet aware of the magnitude of the event. 

“His response, I think because of my response, was ‘just turn on the TV,’” he recalled. “I did so, and then everything changed immediately in the way I was feeling, and the day, and my understanding was immediate.”

Feigles thinks that the United States was somewhat arrogant in its sense of comfort in the years prior to 9/11 and in the belief that our country was not susceptible to this sort of attack.

“Having something of that scale and magnitude happen in the United States was something that we hadn’t seen before,” Feigles said. 

Living close to an airport at the time, Feigles had grown accustomed to the constant noise of airplanes overhead. In the days following 9/11, this sound stopped entirely.

“With all the air traffic halting at that point and no planes in the sky, that silence was just deafening,” he said. “It was very eerie.”

-Ainsley Feigles

Remembering an Act of Unity

At 22 years old, Joey Nunez is too young to remember 9/11 firsthand, but the event has played a role in his education.

Before coming to UWM to major in Environmental Science, Nunez attended a maritime academy in New York City, where he learned about the maritime evacuation on 9/11 from teachers who were involved in rescue missions and emergency operations on that day. 

For Nunez, the biggest takeaway from 9/11 involves the actions of people who came together to help others, or as he calls it, the “showcase of unity.”

“Just the ability for common people to come together, especially that city, that character, really is a testament to what people are capable of, and it’s not really something you see too often nowadays,” Nunez said. “So I guess, thinking back on that day, it’s a reminder that we are capable of having completely different ideas, and totally disagreeing on pretty much everything, and still recognizing that we’re humans.”

Nunez believes that 9/11 can carry the same emotional weight and importance for everyone, despite whether or not they have their own memory of the day. 

“That’s how we remember it, and that’s how we move forward from it, if everyone learns about it and we all agree on specific values from that day,” Nunez said.

-Ainsley Feigles