Millennial Voices. Growing Up in a Post-9/11 America.

We are the millennial generation.

We are diverse.

We are connected.

We are the 9/11 generation.

Ten years later:

How has 9/11 shaped us?

What lessons did we learn?

What are our fears?

What gives us hope?

Rory: When 9/11 happened I was 8 years old, about to turn 9.

Shiva: I was in 6th grade in my math class

Kim: I was a freshman in high school and I was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Rory: Living by the twin towers, it was just chaos.

Vince: It was a regular day. We were sitting in class and from one side of the school we could see the twin towers from our windows. The principal runs in and says "the twin towers are hit. The twin towers are hit."

Arpita: We had just walked into the room and he wrote on the board terrorism.

Vince: At the time I was like, what does that mean, I don't really know what that means.

Travis: The one thing I remember most vividly was Tom Brokaw breaking down on set. And then my mom started crying.

Jorge: I didn't realize the gravity of how important this day was going to be and that it was going to color not only the rest of my college experience, but also the rest of my young adult life.

And just like that, our world changed.

Jorge: I think at first I saw a lot of fear. A lot of confusion. But also a lot of strong resolve. Resiliency. A deep sense of patriotism.

Jasmin: Directly after 9/11 it was good to see everyone unite and come together.

But then our fears began to dissolve our unity.

Zaid: After the attacks I saw parents taking their kids out of school, not flying. Americans were just afraid to behave like Americans. To me that was a victory of fear over our freedom.

Aaron: I could feel the fear; it was palpable after Sept 11. My parents wouldn't let us kids touch the mail for a while. There was an anthrax scare. Everyone was driven by a sense of fear.

Kendall: I've grown up in a society that fears all Muslims simply because of what happened on 9/11.

Travis: I remember when I flew to Boston in 2003. There was a presumably Arab man in front of me and they made him take off his turban and they searched all the way through it. And I remember how he seemed so insulted and no one seemed to care.

On 9/11, we grew up.

Kate: If you think about it, every generation has had some world event that's affected them. For our parents it was the Cold War. Now for us it's terrorism.

Arpita: When I first came into political awareness is when this happened. So basically my whole political world view has been shaped by 9/11.

Travis: I don't think I would be doing what I'm doing now if it weren't for 9/11. I got interested in politics because of the way we reacted afterward.

Peter: 9/11 2001 had a huge impact on my life. On Sept. 11, 2001, I decided to join the U.S. military and walked into a recruiters office.

Aaron: Very shortly after 9/11 my brother and both of his friends joined the armed forces.

Peter: It wasn't something I had in mind prior to the actual attacks, but I felt like it was a calling. It was something I needed to do. I felt it was the duty of every American to put their life on the line to protect the country against foreign enemies.

Ten years later, we remain vulnerable but optimistic.

Annabel: The biggest lesson I learned from 9/11 is how profoundly connected we are as a world.

Adam: I think that the people I meet on a day to day basis and interact with give you hope for America. There's a lot of good out there.

Erica: I think I learned that day, that sounds minute, but I think keep close to your family. So many people lost so many family members. So stay close to your family. Stay close to your friends.

Julie: The biggest lesson is how we want to define what being an American is to us. How we want to define what being an American looks like, thinks like, sounds like.

Peter: The thing that give me hope in this country right now is I feel that the millennial generation is starting to wake up. They realize that not all of the answers are going to come by getting into this whole red team vs. blue team dynamic. Instead we want leaders that stand up for what they believe in.