The writer contends that the defining boundary between millennials and Generation Z is whether one retains a personal memory of the September 11, 2001 attacks, describing the event as a "core memory" for themselves but merely history for those under thirty.
They further assert that 9/11 functions as the fulcrum of contemporary geopolitics, noting that virtually every major political development since that Tuesday can be traced back to its impact.
Illustrating the shift from lived experience to study, the author points to the children’s graphic‑novel series "I Survived," which includes a volume titled "I Survived: The Attacks of September 11," a book their own children enjoy despite not having read the events themselves.
