Local teens recall 9/11
Day of terrorism changed the way they see the world
SYLVIA LIM
Herald Staff Writer
MANATEE - Shaun Warren was in the middle of his eighth-grade math class when someone came into the room and told them about a city sinking into chaos.
A TV was brought into the Lee Middle School classroom on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Warren could not take his eyes off the screen.
"I didn't really understand how devastating it was, how it will affect me," said Warren, now a senior at Bayshore High School. "I needed to see the news, to see pictures of people falling out of windows. I think everyone was scrambling to understand it, or develop some sort of understanding."
Warren, and a generation of high school students his age, struggled for a while to understand why something like the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon that morning could happen.
They have spent a large portion of their formative schooling years trying to make sense of war, terrorism and hatred. Most of them emerged with matured concepts of politics, tolerance and the world.
Sept. 11 has not been forgotten by these teenagers.
"I kind of feel like I was worried about the country," said Chase Cofer, a senior at Bradenton Christian School. "I wondered, 'Are things going to change my life completely, and how much things are going to change.' I feel like everyone keeps on living but it is still at the back of people's mind."
These teenagers are realistic about their own safety in the United States after Sept. 11.
The high school shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado and Red Lake, Minn., intensified Warren's fear of being attacked in school. Warren is especially attentive every time a fire alarm goes off.
"I don't know how safe I feel anymore," said Warren, a nondenominational Christian.
Cofer, a Presbyterian, said he thought the almost simultaneous attacks on the twin towers, the Pentagon and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania were well-planned. He said he is expecting another similar attack.
"There are people 24/7 trying to figure out how to do something to our country," Cofer said. "If people want to hurt your country that bad, they will try to slip through the cracks. It's impossible to stop everything that they are trying to do."
But they felt that the country's response to the attacks - the invasions of Afghanistan and, later, Iraq - may breed more violence.
"I heard a lot of rumors about why we are really over there," said Southeast High School sophomore Domonique Tortee. "I know that it's called war on terrorism, but I also heard that (President) Bush was supposedly trying to claim his right to the oil there."
Tortee, a Jehovah's Witness, said he was taught to stay politically neutral.
But he could not help but wonder about the implications of the fighting for regular citizens.
"Most political figures don't view war through their morals. They know, everybody in the back of their minds knows, it's wrong to kill somebody," Tortee said. "In my opinion, political figures don't use that frame of mind, they just view it as threat to their country, and started a war."
When Sept. 11 unfolded, Tortee, who was in sixth grade, immediately thought of the children of the people killed in the attacks. It gave depth and perspective to how Tortee viewed the world, he said.
"I have been reading about wars and things going on everywhere else in the world. It never hit me until Sept. 11," he said. "I understood the concept of people dying, but I didn't really get it until that day. . . . I thought about people's family that time. I didn't know why I never thought about that before."
Though they have different religious backgrounds, all three teenagers said they believe in accepting different faiths and ethnicities.
"I think people should be more tolerant of other people before judging them," Warren said, adding that he always likes to focus on similarities between people rather than their differences.
These teenagers understand enough not to link those who were responsible for Sept. 11 to any religion or creed.
"I did feel that Christianity and Islam are at conflict, and it's not easy to resolve," Cofer said.
But he thinks people place too much emphasis on the differences.
"Violence is not a solution, they'd only end up hurting each other," Cofer said.
Sept. 11 inspired Tortee to want to do something with his life where he can help people.
"That day makes me care about everybody else," he said. "I'd like to help everyone as much as I can. When I get older, I just want to help people."
Though Warren and Cofer are still trying to figure out their lives beyond high school, one thing is for sure.
"I don't think America will be the same," Cofer said. "But I feel like I can still carry on with my life."
Sylvia Lim, criminal justice reporter, can be reached at 745-7041 or [email protected].