You were probably in school studying, or pretending to study, or playing some kind of rugged stadium sport. You might have been sucking air out of a helium balloon in science class, or begrudgingly blowing into a French horn at band practice. You could have been fudging algorithm puzzles and quadratic equations. Perhaps you were youthfully choking out “I do” in a veil, or whispering, “it’s a boy” to smiling faces.
You might have just popped a painkiller.
The Millennial generation, young people now in their 20s and 30s, if asked to recall ten years ago – the time in their narratives when wired-teeth and date-less dances were rampant, and prior to September 11, 2001, few things were farther from the mind than national security. Though Islamic extremism and hijacked planes were probably a close second and third.
It’s not like that now. It will never be like that again. Now, the same students and fratsters of a decade ago have made national security, and its core, making our world a more peaceful place, a top priority. For many, it’s the only priority -- it’s what they decided they want to do when they grow up.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6, roughly 75 young people gathered in the Naval Heritage Center in Washington to share anecdotes from the past 10 years, and project perspectives on the future of foreign policy in the next 10 years to come.
Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP), a diverse group of approximately 100 foreign policy leaders under 35-years-old who form a nonpartisan, global nonprofit organization, sponsored the forum. The 90-minute discussion, which started at 7 p.m., was introduced by Josh Marcuse, the president of YPFP, and continued by five panelists and active group members.
“It’s about our past and it’s also about our future,” Mr. Marcuse opened. “We are the 9/11 generation, and that’s the conversation I want to have tonight.”
Mr. Marcuse, like many of his peers, believed growing up that we lived in a very peaceful world. After the terrorist attacks, however, his plans to become a constitutional lawyer seemed inadequate. A college freshman in New Hampshire in 2001, Mr. Marcuse changed his professional aspirations and worldview.
“The challenge of our generation [post-September 11] was about fundamental security,” he said.
YPFP was started, according to Mr. Marcuse, in direct relation to his own experience. He needed an outlet, he said, to bring young people, the inheritors of these challenges, together.
Amar Bakshi, currently World Producer at CNN.com and Editor of the Global Public Square, CNN’s premier international analysis site, wasn’t immediately jolted by the attack.
“It took about five years for it to sink in for me,” he said. Mr. Bakshi, who was president of his high school class in 2001, said he mostly remembers the logistics of the day: ushering students out of the school efficiently.
“It never became personal to me until I was in Zimbabwe,” he said. After being jailed for five days and asked consistently “Do you support George Bush,” he began thinking about what we represent to other countries around the world.
According to a February 2011 poll conducted by P.W. Singer, Heather Messera and Brendan Orino at the Brookings Institution titled, “D.C.’s New Guard: What Does the Next Generation of American Leaders Think?” 73.4 percent of young people polled think the U.S. is no longer globally respected. In the minority, 15.8 percent and 10.7 percent polled believe that it is unchanged, or at a high level.
And the divide among young future leaders, perhaps echoing the current tug of war, is partisan. According to the poll, 82 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of Independents are likely to believe respect for America has dipped versus 59 percent of Republicans.
Sarah King, the Special Assistant to the Special Representative to Muslim Communities at the U.S. Department of State, admitted her job wouldn’t exist in a pre-September 11 world: before the surge of terrorist activity.
“Ten years after September 11, we’re in an incredibly different spot,” she said. “We understand why September 11 happened much more now.”
Singer, Messera and Orino concluded that just over 30 percent of young people today, the future agenda-setters of tomorrow, view terrorism as the most important challenge of the future, followed by roughly 12 percent concerned about the environment and climate change, 11 percent nuclear proliferation and 10 percent global poverty. Religious extremism, however, was ranked one of the three least important issues among the people polled.
Rachel Hoff, Director of External Affairs for the Foreign Policy Initiative based in Washington, was born and raised in Japan on a military base.
“I remember certainly the feeling of peace more so than patriotism,” she said. “There was a real emphasis on community. I felt a desire to be around people like me.” Post-attacks, Ms. Hoff felt a fundamental interest in the world and public service, something that exemplifies our generation she said.
According to the Brookings poll, 71 percent of the future Millennial leaders take interest in attending a public service university scholarship program that mandates five years of government service upon graduation.
Zachary Kaufman, an attorney, adjunct professor at George Washington University, writer and social entrepreneur, described the attacks as more than a solitary event in our nation’s history.
“September 11 wasn’t just one moment,” he said. “[Now] it’s entirely unclear what strategies we’re using are effective, legal, and we have these two sides that are diametrically opposed.”
Shawn Brimley, Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council staff, said if not a terrorist attack in September 2001, it would have been something else.
“If 9/11 didn’t happen, something else would have,” he said. “We’re going to deal with this for a long time.”
This “inevitability complex” – a sentiment shared among young people towards their country – underscores the tumultuous post September 11 after-shake. For decades, the U.S. was viewed as “the all powerful, greatest country in the world,” but according to the Pew Research Center’s 2011 Political Typology survey, 57 percent of Americans polled said the U.S. can’t always solve problems, and only 38 percent believe the country “stands above all others.”
“There’s a lot at stake here,” Mr. Kaufman said. “People are dying, we’ve tortured people, we’ve killed people, we’ve invaded countries.” He added, “We should be realistic that there are real threats, including radical Islamists and we need to get better and smarter at it in order to keep running.”
Ms. King, although acknowledged the real threat of terrorism in the future, views an optimistic approach as a key strategy to start.
“I think we need to be dignified about what it means to be American,” she said. “America still has the biggest [microphone] and we need to be very careful and purposeful about how we use it.”
a global affairs media network
Millennials Remember 9/11
September 9, 2011
You were probably in school studying, or pretending to study, or playing some kind of rugged stadium sport. You might have been sucking air out of a helium balloon in science class, or begrudgingly blowing into a French horn at band practice. You could have been fudging algorithm puzzles and quadratic equations. Perhaps you were youthfully choking out “I do” in a veil, or whispering, “it’s a boy” to smiling faces.
You might have just popped a painkiller.
The Millennial generation, young people now in their 20s and 30s, if asked to recall ten years ago – the time in their narratives when wired-teeth and date-less dances were rampant, and prior to September 11, 2001, few things were farther from the mind than national security. Though Islamic extremism and hijacked planes were probably a close second and third.
It’s not like that now. It will never be like that again. Now, the same students and fratsters of a decade ago have made national security, and its core, making our world a more peaceful place, a top priority. For many, it’s the only priority -- it’s what they decided they want to do when they grow up.
On Tuesday, Sept. 6, roughly 75 young people gathered in the Naval Heritage Center in Washington to share anecdotes from the past 10 years, and project perspectives on the future of foreign policy in the next 10 years to come.
Young Professionals in Foreign Policy (YPFP), a diverse group of approximately 100 foreign policy leaders under 35-years-old who form a nonpartisan, global nonprofit organization, sponsored the forum. The 90-minute discussion, which started at 7 p.m., was introduced by Josh Marcuse, the president of YPFP, and continued by five panelists and active group members.
“It’s about our past and it’s also about our future,” Mr. Marcuse opened. “We are the 9/11 generation, and that’s the conversation I want to have tonight.”
Mr. Marcuse, like many of his peers, believed growing up that we lived in a very peaceful world. After the terrorist attacks, however, his plans to become a constitutional lawyer seemed inadequate. A college freshman in New Hampshire in 2001, Mr. Marcuse changed his professional aspirations and worldview.
“The challenge of our generation [post-September 11] was about fundamental security,” he said.
YPFP was started, according to Mr. Marcuse, in direct relation to his own experience. He needed an outlet, he said, to bring young people, the inheritors of these challenges, together.
Amar Bakshi, currently World Producer at CNN.com and Editor of the Global Public Square, CNN’s premier international analysis site, wasn’t immediately jolted by the attack.
“It took about five years for it to sink in for me,” he said. Mr. Bakshi, who was president of his high school class in 2001, said he mostly remembers the logistics of the day: ushering students out of the school efficiently.
“It never became personal to me until I was in Zimbabwe,” he said. After being jailed for five days and asked consistently “Do you support George Bush,” he began thinking about what we represent to other countries around the world.
According to a February 2011 poll conducted by P.W. Singer, Heather Messera and Brendan Orino at the Brookings Institution titled, “D.C.’s New Guard: What Does the Next Generation of American Leaders Think?” 73.4 percent of young people polled think the U.S. is no longer globally respected. In the minority, 15.8 percent and 10.7 percent polled believe that it is unchanged, or at a high level.
And the divide among young future leaders, perhaps echoing the current tug of war, is partisan. According to the poll, 82 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of Independents are likely to believe respect for America has dipped versus 59 percent of Republicans.
Sarah King, the Special Assistant to the Special Representative to Muslim Communities at the U.S. Department of State, admitted her job wouldn’t exist in a pre-September 11 world: before the surge of terrorist activity.
“Ten years after September 11, we’re in an incredibly different spot,” she said. “We understand why September 11 happened much more now.”
Singer, Messera and Orino concluded that just over 30 percent of young people today, the future agenda-setters of tomorrow, view terrorism as the most important challenge of the future, followed by roughly 12 percent concerned about the environment and climate change, 11 percent nuclear proliferation and 10 percent global poverty. Religious extremism, however, was ranked one of the three least important issues among the people polled.
Rachel Hoff, Director of External Affairs for the Foreign Policy Initiative based in Washington, was born and raised in Japan on a military base.
“I remember certainly the feeling of peace more so than patriotism,” she said. “There was a real emphasis on community. I felt a desire to be around people like me.” Post-attacks, Ms. Hoff felt a fundamental interest in the world and public service, something that exemplifies our generation she said.
According to the Brookings poll, 71 percent of the future Millennial leaders take interest in attending a public service university scholarship program that mandates five years of government service upon graduation.
Zachary Kaufman, an attorney, adjunct professor at George Washington University, writer and social entrepreneur, described the attacks as more than a solitary event in our nation’s history.
“September 11 wasn’t just one moment,” he said. “[Now] it’s entirely unclear what strategies we’re using are effective, legal, and we have these two sides that are diametrically opposed.”
Shawn Brimley, Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council staff, said if not a terrorist attack in September 2001, it would have been something else.
“If 9/11 didn’t happen, something else would have,” he said. “We’re going to deal with this for a long time.”
This “inevitability complex” – a sentiment shared among young people towards their country – underscores the tumultuous post September 11 after-shake. For decades, the U.S. was viewed as “the all powerful, greatest country in the world,” but according to the Pew Research Center’s 2011 Political Typology survey, 57 percent of Americans polled said the U.S. can’t always solve problems, and only 38 percent believe the country “stands above all others.”
“There’s a lot at stake here,” Mr. Kaufman said. “People are dying, we’ve tortured people, we’ve killed people, we’ve invaded countries.” He added, “We should be realistic that there are real threats, including radical Islamists and we need to get better and smarter at it in order to keep running.”
Ms. King, although acknowledged the real threat of terrorism in the future, views an optimistic approach as a key strategy to start.
“I think we need to be dignified about what it means to be American,” she said. “America still has the biggest [microphone] and we need to be very careful and purposeful about how we use it.”
