College-age generation faces aftershocks of Sept. 11

Growing up in America's decade-long bubble of peace and prosperity, today's young adults have only experienced war in history textbooks, movies and video games. They were toddlers in the waning days of the Soviet Empire, and war never seemed a possibility. When it did happen, it was far away and fought from a distance using smart bombs and other high-tech weaponry with little or no threat of real danger.

That all changed Sept. 11.

Now, this college-age generation is faced with a prolonged conflict against a vague and undefinable enemy. Worse still, the war has been brought to its backyard by the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the letters containing anthrax.

On the National Mall, at airports and train stations, the National Guard has a ubiquitous presence. Every few weeks the government issues new warnings of possible attacks against the American people. Anthrax cases have forced the shutdown of post offices. These events are bound to take a toll on those young people, whom Newsweek labels in its cover story this week, "Generation 9/11."

"The world has been turned upside down," Marina Elson '05 said. "Everything I once thought now seems so insignificant. I don't know what to feel anymore."

Students at colleges throughout the country have responded in various ways to the conflict. While some have held protest marches urging peaceful reactions, many have held rallies showing support for the military action being taken in Afghanistan. They have turned out in droves to donate blood and raise funds for those affected by the tragedy.

However, it will take years before the effect on the generation will manifest itself. War has been known to affect everything from marriage patterns and family size to attitudes about life and religious beliefs.

"My greatest concern is that young people will become hateful and fearful, rather than curious and better informed," University sociologist Patricia Fernandez-Kelly wrote in an e-mail.

"When we cast geopolitical conflicts in bipolar terms - civilization against barbarism, good against evil, rationality versus insanity, etc. - it becomes very easy to manipulate us.

"As a result we may find ourselves in places we didn't want to be in the first place," she continued. "We may, for example, yield hardearned individual liberties and rights in the name of security and collective solidarity. We may allow new forms of racial discrimination. It grieved me to see the other day, on my way to Syracuse University, a young Arab-looking man surrounded by six armed policemen while the airport security personnel emptied his bags."

The recent surge of suspicion toward Muslims and people of Middle Eastern origin undermines the freedom that we as Americans have taken for granted, Fernandez explained.

Indeed nothing can be taken for granted any longer.

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Andrea Somberg '00, who lives and works in New York city explained the difficulties she faces as a result of Sept. 11. "I get up each morning scared about what the day might bring," she said. "My roommates and I are much more conscious of living day to day. I'm trying to take advantage of every opportunity and enjoy every moment because all of a sudden the next one doesn't seem guaranteed."

Jonathan Levine, an early decision applicant to the Class of 2006, expressed similar opinions. "Life is going on just as it did before, but I feel different," he said. "There's a nagging sense of fear that I just can't shake off — that I'm taking a risk whenever I step out of my house, even if it's just to go get the mail."

While the full effects of the war against terrorism on the college-age generation will take decades to be felt, many already believe that they will never be the same.