A Gen Z perspective on 9/11, 25 years after the tragedy.

By Maddux Morse | Sept. 15, 2026

More than 100 million Americans were too young to remember — or were born after — the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, but it has impacted us nonetheless.

9/11/2026. I woke up this morning to a New York Times article acknowledging the 25th anniversary of a national tragedy — a tragedy that has shaped the world I was born into. I was born in 2005, and as a senior, I know that most of my peers at Maryville College were born after the fall of the Twin Towers. 

We have grown up with the tragedy. It changed the way our parents raised us, the way our teachers taught us. Not only were we born after 9/11, we were born after the tragic shooting at Columbine in 1999. The school shooter drills were routine in every public school I attended, as were the commemorative documentaries we would watch every year on Sept. 11, showing us the defining event at the turn of the 21st century. 

I respected this attempt… teachers were trying to educate us, but it often felt like Sept. 11 was a chance for older generations to pass on a semblance of the trauma they experienced on that fateful day. We didn’t learn about the socio-political and historical background, the precursors to the attack. 

We were, however, forced to watch videos of the chaos on the streets of New York City: people taking shelter in any shop that would risk opening their doors, as they ran from the smoke and debris that poured through the street like a tsunami.

Nearly everyone I know who was in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001 remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. They might have been sitting in class, and their teacher turned on the news. Maybe they were at home and got a call to turn on the TV. Maybe they looked out the window and saw smoke in the distance. 

Most people reflect on the way it shifted our world, or at least their perspective, but what does it mean for someone like me? Someone who was born into that world after it shifted?

Older generations may be shocked, or feel disrespected by our perspective on it. We have grown up with the internet, and dark humor surrounding the attack is common.

Gen Z often makes jokes about what “our 9/11” was. What moment was key in influencing our identities or our place in the world? What event will we always remember? 

I am not trying to equate this to the tragedy that took nearly 3,000 lives, but I remember exactly where I was, what I was doing, and how I felt, when Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Over the last few weeks, I have heard people comment and post that the deaths of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry are their 9/11, or the assassination of Charlie Kirk one year ago. 

I would argue the more significant “9/11 moment” of our generation was the global pandemic in 2020. Covid-19 changed the entire world, and for most of Gen Z, it was at a formative time in our lives — high school (or the years right before or after, depending on when you were born). We have lived through countless school shootings, we have been taught about them in school and have seen the effects, some of us firsthand.

People still comment, “oh, you’re too young to remember 9/11”. Yes, I am. But I’m not too young to have seen its impact on my country for the 21 years that I’ve been alive. Nor am I too young to have witnessed any of the other countless tragedies since the turn of the century.

I don’t speak for my entire generation, but I think there is a significant split in belief about what happened depending on if you were born after or before 2001. Plenty of Gen Z are firm in their belief that it was an inside job, an organized demolition orchestrated by George W. Bush, a fear mongering tactic to sow racism and hate… or maybe just an insurance payout.

While most of the mainstream conspiracy theories have been debunked, our presence on social media platforms can lead us to algorithm-based conclusions that are reinforced through repetition, and the general distrust we might feel towards the government is only exacerbated by the conspiracy theories that we have grown up with.

While 9/11 is a historical event rather than a personal memory for me, and for most students at MC, we carry it with us. A combination of documentaries, survivor stories, and emergency calls and videos during the attacks have shaped my views on the day.

As we remember the anniversary of this national tragedy, my heart goes out to the family members of those who died 25 years ago. My generation and those born after us live without the direct trauma caused by the event, but we have felt the effects since we were born, and we do empathize with you — our parents and grandparents, teachers, bosses, coworkers, and maybe even some classmates, who we know carry the burden of seeing the towers fall.