Kathleen Quillian
For young people who were in elementary school on 9-11, they’ve grown up hearing about Osama Bin Laden and came of age during the War on Terror. Was he their generation’s boogie man? Youth Radio’s Kathleen Quillian says no.
I was in third grade during the terrorists attacks of September 11th. Since then, I’ve always been aware of Osama Bin Laden but never frightened by him.
I don’t see Bin Laden as a boogie man — I think of him more as a character, parodied by shows such as South Park and Family Guy.
Bin Laden was not somebody my friends and I feared.
Growing up, news conversations have always revolved around certain key words — war on terror, weapons of mass destruction, Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. My generation has grown up with terror of one kind or another — terror of another attack or of losing a loved one in war.
Yet the reason why we went to war in Afghanistan is still a bit unclear to me. I still have questions that are not easy to answer. Why are we sending more troops in? Why can’t we send our troops home? Especially now that we have finally found and killed this so-called monster?
I feel like I know what’s happening overseas, but I have become numb to it all. It’s been going on since I was in third grade, so I know that one man’s death isn’t going to end it.
