Generations Apart: How Opinions of Sept. 11 Differ

They are generations apart.

On the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks, a team of UW-Milwaukee journalism students set out to determine whether opinions of Sept. 11, 2001, differ depending on whether you were alive at the time.

Most college students today do not have living memories of Sept. 11. For them, it is history, much like the Kennedy assassination.

UW-Madison student Lilijana Vojvodich, 20, explains the challenge some younger generations have connecting to the tragedy on a deeper level.

“It is hard for me to connect personally because I was not born at the time of the event, and I do not know anyone who was directly affected by the attacks,” said Vojvodich. “However, it is interesting to see how impactful it was to the world today.”

Those who lived through the attacks, and were older enough to remember them, have more of an emotional connection and response to the attacks. They tended to emphasize how the country gained stronger security and the spirit of unity that existed after Sept. 11. They still have a visceral reaction to the shock of the attacks.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it,” said Kenosha HVAC worker and former U.S Army National Guard Sergeant Michael Christiansen, 47. “I still to this day remember where I was, what I was doing, as if it was happening again today.”

In contrast, younger generations described visiting memorials or having loose family ties to victims, but for the most part they tended to see the attacks from a different vantage point, as several expressed concern about a rise in Islamophobia or America’s engagement in war.

Here are the stories:

A Different Worldview

After 22 years have passed since two planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City on 9/11, an entire generation has been raised in a post 9/11 United States.

UW-Madison student Lilijana Vojvodich, 20, explains the difficulties of connecting to the tragedy compared to generations who experienced it firsthand.

“It is hard for me to connect personally because I was not born at the time of the event, and I do not know anyone who was directly affected by the attacks,” said Vojvodich. “However, it is interesting to see how impactful it was to the world today.”

One of the biggest impacts 9/11 had on the United States is the importance of national security. “The importance of national security and the way that big tragedies can bring communities together,” said Vojvodich.

The biggest hurdle younger generations face when understanding 9/11 is the lack of personal connection to an historical event in American history.

“I would definitely say that the difference matters depending on how they perceive the events,” said Vojvodich. “In my experience, I have found that people that were old enough to have solid memories of that day tend to get more emotional when the subject is brought up. I think that people born after 9/11 recognize the seriousness of the situation but aren’t as deeply affected unless they know someone who was involved.”

However, regardless of the lack of personal connection and understanding younger generations might have, there is influence on how the post 9/11 world is seen.

“It has definitely impacted how younger generations see the world today, but I wouldn’t say more negatively compared to other generations, considering they have been other big tragedies historically in America,” said Vojvodich. “Younger people’s worldview is different than older people’s worldviews.”

-Abby Christiansen

HVAC Sheet Metal Worker and Former U.S National Guard Sergeant Discusses When American Life was Changed Forever

The travesty and devastating new reality 9/11 created for Americans and the American life is undeniable. Thousands of people lost their lives, and thousands more were injured. To this day, generations who experienced it don’t let a day go by that they don’t remember.

“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about it,” said Kenosha HVAC worker and former U.S Army National Guard Sergeant Michael Christiansen, 47. “I still to this day remember where I was, what I was doing, as if it was happening again today.”

“I was beginning my day of work, and my mom called me into our office and told me that a plane had crashed into the Twin Tower,” said Christiansen. “I was surprised and felt sadness. I remember hearing that the second plane crashed into the second tower on the radio. I remember the day that when everything was happening, that I received a phone call from my Army National Guard unit placing me on alert for mobilization.”

Many thoughts scattered across Christiansen’s mind following the possibility of being placed on emergency alert deployment.

“I was concerned if I would ever see my wife and parents again,” said Christiansen. “I wondered if I was going to have the chance to have children.”

This year marks 22 years since the tragedy of 9/11. Since then, an entire generation of Americans have grown up in a post 9/11 world and have no personal memory of the attacks. Christiansen believes younger generations are unable to fully understand the changes and impacts the terrorist attacks had on American life.

“The day those attacks took place, the American life that we knew and used to changed dramatically and immediately,” stated Christiansen. “It was a life-altering moment. How we traveled changed. The way we saw the world changed. A person that did not experience it firsthand, could never understand the changes that took place, similar to a way that a person that was born after JFK was assassinated, could not appreciate the way the country was prior.”

The lasting impacts and lessons 9/11 had on the United States are firmly in place today. “National security is much more important than we thought up to that time,” said Christiansen. “Sharing intelligence and working together with other countries is much more important.”

-Abby Christiansen

The Tragedy That Led to National Unity

Chris Fannin was getting ready for work like it was any normal day when his wife came home from the gym with shocking news 22 years ago, on Sept. 11, 2001. But this was not a normal day, this day would change the course of our country’s history.

“It’s the kind of day that if you were alive then, it sticks with you forever,” Fannin said.

One of the biggest themes Fannin recalls when looking back on this tragic day is the unifying effect it had on America.

“There was a huge sense of national pride and national unity for quite a while after that happened, years,” Fannin said. “It was not just your local community or state, it was the whole country really on the same page about so many things following that event. In a lot of ways a terrible event brought the country together.”

Fannin remembers driving home from work that night seeing several people on street corners with American flags and signs saying things like “God bless the USA,” something that was very
cool for him to see at the time. No matter political view, religion or race Americans seemed to have this sense of togetherness and support for each other. This country seems very far away from today.

“One of the things that I take away from 9/11 the most is we had that national unity from this terrible event and now we have this national epidemic of divisiveness,” Fannin said.

-Liliana Fannin

An Excuse for Islamophobia

Fiona Evans, a 21-year-old education student at UW-Milwaukee, remembers beginning to learn about the 9/11 tragedy when she was in middle school. She described how every year when the anniversary would come around, she would watch videos and talk about it in her social studies class.

Like many, Evans agrees that the USA learned to have better security at airports after the 9/11 tragedy, but what is really intriguing are her thoughts on what the USA taught its citizens after the attack.

“I think in a way after the 9/11 attack America taught their citizens Islamophobia,” Evans said. “Although things played out the way they did, I think it was really easy for America to have that as an excuse to be racist towards a group of people.”

When asked about how perspectives change depending on if a person was old enough to remember the terrorist attack or not, she believes the two can be quite different.

“I think for people in my generation it was so much later that when we were learning about it the racism and Islamophobia played such a huge part,” Evans said. “Our generation cares about that more than the older generation because it’s two different realities that we lived in. Not being alive for it gives us the opportunity to look at it from a bigger picture perspective and how it affects everyone today differently from them.”

-Liliana Fannin

A Future Firefighter

For the future of America’s first responders, the residual effects of 9/11 are apparent in every day of work. Although Alex Lintonen, an 18-year-old Probationary Firefighter at Tess Corners Fire Department, would not be born until several years after the famed terrorist attacks, he still feels the deep trauma in his everyday work, training, and procedure.

“From my perspective, the 9/11 attacks changed a lot in the fire service,” says Lintonen. “First, it created a NIMS system. This system makes it efficient to communicate though departments. Every first responder must be NIMS certified to respond to an emergency effectively.”

Lintonen has only heard of the 9/11 attacks as passed down through stories from family, friends, and teachers, but has lived firsthand to see the long journey of American healing since the attacks have occurred

As a country, we have learned to remember what it means to be an American. With the nation so divided, we can come together at least one day a year and collectively say, “yeah, this is horrible.” It means that we can look back at all the ones we lost and remember what happened on that day,” says Lintonen. “What I know from 9/11 will be different from someone who lived it. I will not feel what it was like to watch this genuinely horrible event unfold on TV and react in real-time to it. I think where people were on the day of the attacks matters.”

Lintonen’s career as a firefighter stems from generations of first responders. Despite how awful it was, tragedies like 9/11 inspire him to continue learning how to help people who need it.

-Elizabeth Lintonen

Music Stopped That Day

Josh Backes was on tour with his metal band, a then 23-year-old crashing overnight at his mother’s house in Ohio, when he heard the news. The band’s next scheduled stop on the tour? New York City.

“We got to Ohio at around 2 a.m. on September 10, and crashed. I woke up early because it was time I could spend with my mom, but we turned on the TV either as the first airplane hit the tower or shortly after, as a replay,” says Backes.

“We were slated to play about a week after September 11. We got to New York City, we should’ve called ahead, but we were 22 or whatever and not really thinking through things. We called them once we were in the city, and they said ‘We’re 10 blocks from ground zero, and we are covered in dust and soot. And so, technically we’re open, but no one will be here, and you can’t bring your band down here because the military will stop you.”

Rather than brave the New York subway with a full drum set
and other band equipment, Backes and his band opted to sit this show out. As someone who has been paying close attention to foreign policy and politics for years, Backes finds the way 9/11 shaped the country, interesting.

“It seems like we pulled back on our imperial ambitions as a country, or at least we’ve gotten smarter about it. Shortly after, I protested that war. I got a lot of things like ‘you’re not supporting
the troops,’ but it’s like ‘yeah, I am, I’m trying to keep them alive,’” says Backes. “Have we learned our lesson? I suppose some of us have. But I think there’s currents in the culture that refuse to learn anything.”

Looking back now, Backes recognizes how people are intergenerationally affected by trauma.

“It’d be like trying to tell your kids what COVID was like,” says Backes. “But it’s just an accident of history, of when we’re all born.”

-Elizabeth Lintonen

A Day of Unity and Remembrance

The tragedy of Sept. 11th, 2001 was never experienced directly for 20-year-old Molly Christoffel, but she still feels the sorrow of the event, and is thankful for the sense of community on every anniversary.

“This is a day of great sorrow and remembrance for a lot of Americans because so many people were directly and indirectly affected by this,” Christoffel said. “It’s a time where even now, people come together to mourn our losses.”

Christoffel is a UW-Milwaukee architecture major born in Schaumburg, Illinois, who has been to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in N.Y.

“I went into deep thought about what it would have been like to be alive at that time,” Christoffel said. “I don’t know how I would have reacted. I definitely feel more distant about the event than I would have if I was alive at that time.”

Christoffel is grateful that Sept. 11 has brought a couple of lessons to the country. “We’ve learned to come together on this day of complete tragedy,” Christoffel said. “We’ve also improved on security. I hope we’ll continue to improve security to prevent future tragedies.”

Christoffel believes there is one thing that Sept. 11th caused distrust instead of unity. She holds no ill will toward Muslims from the event but laments the way society has viewed many of them.

“I just think of these people who had nothing to do with what happened, and how they get looked at and treated differently,” Christoffel said. “Society’s opinion turned overly negative toward Muslims, and that upsets me.”

-Natalie Ng

9/11: 2001 vs 2023

Anne Ng was driving on her way to work while listening to the radio when she heard about the World Trade Towers falling on Sept. 11.

She rushed to work, where her and her coworkers huddled around their work television to watch the towers burn and fall and see the first responders assist with the chaos.

“It was a total shock,” Ng said. “To hear it on the radio is one thing, but to see it with your own eyes was jaw-dropping. I didn’t even register it as a terrorist attack until I saw the second plane hit.”

Ng, 50, works in international logistics between America and Korea. She used to live in Korea before moving to America and settling in Schaumburg, Illinois. For her, the 22nd anniversary is the wrong term to describe the event.

“It’s not an anniversary, it’s a tragedy, not an event where a celebratory word should be used,” Ng said. “I think we took what we had before for granted.”

While Ng saw that in the years following Sept. 11th security was increased and strict, she doesn’t think the United States has really learned anything from the event.

“I don’t think we’ve learned anything 22 years later,” Ng said. “All we’ve done is increased security, but society has loosened, and over time, people have forgotten.”

-Natalie Ng

Born 2 Years After Sept. 11

Ellen Harty, an education major, was born two years after 9/11 but was still affected by the event. Harty’s aunt’s brother, William Burke, was one of the firefighters that lost his life in the twin towers that day.

“While it was extremely devastating that he lost his life, if it wasn’t for his sacrifice, many people would not have survived,” Harty said. “Our country learned that we need to be strong and to not show fear, even though America is vulnerable, like my aunt’s brother did.”

Harty first found out about 9/11 from her parents one evening while watching the news when she was 10-years-old. Years later, she eventually heard Burke’s story from her aunt and realized
the importance of the heroic impact of people’s actions during 9/11.

“Our country learned that we need to be strong and to not show fear, even though America is vulnerable,” said Harty. “If we show that we are afraid the terrorists will take advantage of that. So, we must not let them win.”

– Erin O’Neill

Remembers the Horrors

Sept. 11 is a day that remains horrifically etched in the memory of millions who witnessed the terrorist attack in New York City. Jim O’Neill first found out about what happened that day at work when someone told him that a plane had crashed into one of the twin towers.

“At first, it was noted that it may have been a traffic plane that accidentally crashed into the tower,” said O’Neill. “Twenty minutes later another plane crashed into the second tower; After that video came out, everyone knew something evil was happening.”

The experience of witnessing the 9/11 attacks firsthand forged a unique connection among those who lived through it, sharing the experience of trauma, grief, and an overwhelming sense of vulnerability.

“I think that those that were old enough to remember the horror of watching the towers burn and collapse have a stronger connection than those who didn’t experience the tragedy of Sept 11,” said O’Neill.

Unfortunately, O’Neill’s friend from his Rugby Club at the time lost his sister, and the law firm that O’Neill’s sister, Bridget, worked at was in one of the twin towers.

“She had transferred back to Chicago a few years prior to Sept 11,” said O’Neill. “Several former co-workers suffered emotional harm as a result of being in the tower and having to walk down 50 flights of stairs.”

However, despite the tragedy of 9/11, the experience gave people a reason to unite after a catastrophic event.

“During times of tragedy and uncertainty, we can come together and show compassion and strength as a nation,” said O’Neill.

-Erin O’Neill

Growing Up in a Post-9/11 World

Zachary Goodman, like many college students today, was born after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. Despite this, he still feels the importance and weight of the day.

“Thousands of Americans died, we never want that to happen again. We should feel safe at home in our country.” said Goodman, a MSOE biomedical engineering and Army ROTC student.

Goodman talked about how the day had some bearing over joining the Army ROTC. “It gave the understanding that there are individuals abroad who are against what we have here in America, and that in those situations, our security at home would potentially be jeopardized if we do not stay diligent.”

A few years ago, he went to New York and DC, visiting the site of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. He talked about how powerful these reminders were, even to someone who was not alive to remember the attacks.

“In DC, they have rows of benches. If you look closer you notice that each bench has names on it, and there are a lot of benches. Each one is a man or woman who died during the terrorist attack. It is a powerful physical reminder that we cannot forget.”

-Colton Pemble

A Veteran Remembers

Robert Boyer is a retired Master Sergeant of the US Army, veteran of Vietnam and the Iraq War. 22 years later, the tragic events of Sept. 11 have stayed with him.

Boyer was on his way to Duluth that morning, where he worked as a station commander at an Army recruiting center. “I started hearing it over the radio. I heard that one plane hit the tower, and I thought maybe it was some little private plane. As I was driving further down I got the news of the second one.”

“It was rough,” he said when talking about how the rest of the day went. He and the other soldiers in the recruiting center set up a television and could do nothing but watch as the rest of the disastrous day unfolded.

To him, it was an important lesson for the nation. “No matter what we say or what we think, we are vulnerable to that kind of thing. We are not immune to it.”

Boyer noted how the event changed people’s attitudes towards those serving in the military. When he came back from Vietnam, the Army flew him back at night when the airport was more quiet because of how Vietnam veterans were often treated. When he came back from Iraq, people were there to greet them at the airport and were buying them lunch.

When asked how September 11th made him feel about serving in the military, his answer was simple: “I’m just glad I was there.”

-Colton Pemble

Contrasting Generations

It has been 22 years since we have lost nearly 3,000 innocent lives on Sept. 11, 2011. Whether you were a young teenager or even an adult you can probably remember what you had done that day.

Ashley Yates was in the 3rd grade when she heard about the news.
I remember being in class and one of my other teachers came into class telling everyone that there was a plane that hit a tower in New York. I was confused as to what was going on,” Yates said.

“After they had said it, my teacher brought in the television in the cart so I knew we were not going to have class for a short time.” Yates continued. “My teacher Mrs. White was my favorite teacher and she continued to be upset throughout the whole day. Security has been different ever since the tragedy occurred many decades ago.

But since Yates now has kids of her own she does not think that security is all that great.

“If I even go to the grocery store there should be metal detectors for safety precautions. There have been incidents all around the world even in schools,” Yates said. “We have to be more safe
in any way we can think of. We do not want a recap of what happened many years ago.”

While a younger person was not fully aware of what had happened, adults during that time must have had a different perspective.

“I remember waking up late then went to watch television and on the news they had said they hit the twin towers.” Martin Gonzales said. “I went to work later that day and it was just an eerie type of day for everyone.”

Ashley and Martin did not have a similar day of how it went but they can both agree in one word what that day describes: Sadness.

“Every year when 9/11 comes up in the year it just gives you a thought of how many people lost their lives,” Yates said.

“It is unbelievable it has happened but we have to continue and not dwell and be sad every day for the rest of our lives,” Gonzales said.

-Juan Jose Rodriguez-Mora

Three Types of 9/11 Trauma

Marcelis Williamson grew up in Wauwatosa, WI and was nearing 1 year old at the time of the tragic happenings on Sept. 11, 2001. He has no memory of the day it happened, but after years of schooling and reflection on the events, he feels a sympathetic sadness for those who experienced that day as a conscious adult.

Williamson concludes that one of the most important lessons that largely changed our society from the attacks was the level of security at the airport. Having been born in November of 2000,
Williamson does not know what airport security was like before the times after 9/11.

However, as he recalls from his education, TSA checkpoints and security at airports were nothing compared to the process we encounter now.

“I think there are three different types of experiences,” said Williamson. “The worst of them all was the people who were in the area or close to the area, being able to feel, hear and see the
situation with their own eyes. The second experience was the people who were alive at the time who had to see it on the news or at school or work. Lastly, there were people like us who were babies at the time and didn’t understand the situation until we got older.”

Williamson feels that the demographic of people who were most affected by the attacks was those in the commercial flight industry. Pilots and flight attendants were forced to face the reality that terrible things can happen at any time.

“I think the 9/11 attacks changed the country forever, no matter how you experienced it,” said Williamson.

-Sonia Spitz

The Naivete of America Ruined

Thirty-two-year-old Kim Spitz-Dugall was pregnant with her youngest daughter at the time of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She was at the doctor’s office getting a blood glucose test when the
news of the tragedies shook the country.

She had just dropped off her son at preschool and was waiting to be called back to get her blood drawn when breaking news overtook the waiting room TV. Doctors and nurses began exiting the building, taking patients with them as the country started shutting down.

Spitz-Dugall arrived back at the preschool where teachers and administrators were waiting outside with the children ready to send them back to their families.

“Before 9/11, we thought we were invincible,” said Spitz-Dugall.
Spitz-Dugall agrees that many of the experiences from that day were universal among adults.

There was mass chaos in the media and many assumptions were made before terrorism was confirmed. Some news networks were calling it an accident while others had already started speculating on something more nefarious.

“Nobody really used the word terrorism, and I don’t think a lot of people knew what it was before 9/11,” said Spitz-Dugall. “People know what terrorism is today because of the attacks that day.”

The fear and chaos felt on Sept. 11, 2001 are emotions unique to those who experienced it as a person aware of the detriment to our country. Of all the people who were affected by the attacks, New Yorkers had a much more unique and tragic experience, according to Spitz-Dugall.

The smoke, dust and debris on scene are still having lasting effects on the people who experienced the attacks first-hand, not to mention the emotional distress of those who witnessed the lives of
innocent people lost to terrorism.

-Sonia Spitz

UWM Professor Shocked Before Teaching a Class

For many people, Sept. 11, 2001 was a typical Tuesday until chaos struck. Associate professor Robert McCaw teaches Spanish literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

McCaw was getting prepared to teach when he heard screaming from the hallway. A colleague screamed “the towers are burning and falling” while walking up and down the stairs.

McCaw recalled the somber yet dramatic storytelling while watching the news the following day. Newscasts contained inspiring music, something that McCaw said he interpreted as a dramatic spectacle.

“People who were born during and after the attacks might have a great deal of sensibility even though they did not live through it,” McCaw said. “We tend to see these events academically rather than having empathy.”

Trains and bus stations did not increase in security, but airports did according to McCaw. America learned that tragedy can happen anywhere.

-By Samantha Calderon

9/11 is Important for Younger Generations to Learn About

Rachel Oelsner, an alumna from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and current law student at Michigan State University, was born a month after the 9/11 attacks.

“It showed us how communities united,” Oelsner said. “These attacks brought people together in support of the victims.”

Oelsner learned about the attacks in her earlier education. Once she reached high school, that’s when it all changed.

Oelsner said that people who were born after 9/11 are capable of understanding that these attacks “lost a lot of lives and it was a tragedy for our country.”

The most important lesson from 9/11 was how communities could bond to support one another despite disagreements, according to Oelsner.

By Samantha Calderon