# The World I Don’t Remember Twenty-Five Years After the 9/11 Attacks **URL:** **By** Lilah M. Kimble **Published:** September 11, 2026 --- On the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11, Lilah Kimble considers what happens when younger generations know history without having lived it and inherit a world shaped by events they don’t remember. Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. People who weren’t alive—or were very young—on September 11, 2001 have graduated high school and have been eligible to vote and serve in the military for years. Some are married and have children. None of us remember where we were that day and, perhaps more importantly, we don’t remember the world before it. Throughout my life, I’ve heard people point to September 11, 2001 as a day that divided their life into a _before_ and an _after_. People older than I am are sometimes surprised when they learn I was born in 2001. I used to find this a little strange until I started meeting teenagers who were in elementary school during the COVID pandemic. Twenty-five years is long enough for babies to become adults but short enough for the day to remain fresh for those who lived it. The tragedies in New York, Arlington, and Shanksville on September 11 killed thousands of people, elicited fear and confusion across the nation, and [reverberated](https://www.libertarianism.org/encyclopedia/war-terror) around the world. To call 9/11 far-reaching and significant feels grossly lacking, but it’s never been fresh to me because I was so young when it happened. > None of us remember where we were that day and, perhaps more importantly, we don’t remember the world before it. The post-9/11 world is very different—or so I’ve read and been told. Air travel security tightened with the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, passed in November 2001, which created the [Transportation Security Administration (TSA)](https://www.libertarianism.org/tsa).[1](#_edn1) Congress passed the [PATRIOT Act](https://www.libertarianism.org/videos/should-government-track-political-activity) in the fall of the same year,[2](#_edn2) permitting extensive additions to the powers of federal law enforcement and agencies.[3](#_edn3) President George W. Bush proposed the creation of the [Department of Homeland Security](https://www.libertarianism.org/videos/are-we-safe-yet-framework-assessing-security-regulation) and Congress finalized it with the passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002.[4](#_edn4) At many airport security checkpoints, you’re now asked to let the government take a photograph of your face to match with your ID. I remember when this began a few years ago. Airports displayed cards beside the cameras giving notice that passengers could opt out of the photograph. (At the airports I’ve used recently, these notices have since been removed.) A simple [facial recognition scan](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/building-tomorrow/facial-recognition-or-faceless-man) doesn’t seem too intrusive, but I am aware of how these little steps can lead to abuses. As someone generally skeptical of power, I’ve always declined. Last year, I traveled with a [libertarian](https://www.libertarianism.org/essay/what-is-libertarianism) friend. In the security line, he warned me that he would take longer because he opts out of the full-body Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners and asks for the pat-down instead. I didn’t understand him at first because I thought everyone had to go through the scanners.[5](#_edn5) I never realized it was possible to opt out. My friend, who remembers where he was when the 9/11 attacks happened, reminded me that airports weren’t always like this. He remembered when they didn’t require the security measures they have now, let alone the full-body scans that the TSA began implementing in 2010.[6](#_edn6) He felt that any security benefits provided by the full-body scans did not [justify](https://www.libertarianism.org/videos/liberty-security) the privacy intrusion. He suggested that refusing the expected behavior when he feels the government is overstepping is sometimes worthwhile because it reminds people that there are legitimate reasons to object and it might inspire others to refuse it too. After we both declined the facial scans, he informed the TSA officer that he wanted to opt out of the full-body scan, and I obediently walked into it. For a frozen moment, I raised my arms above my head, as I would if I were about to be arrested, before collecting my things. My friend waited for an officer to become available for the pat-down, followed the officer through the roped-off section next to the scanner, and then stood, shoes off, as he was patted down at the end of security. I joined the opt-out line on the return trip, and I’ve continued opting out of the full-body scan when I fly. I inevitably get odd stares from people of all ages. One woman, who was clearly old enough to remember 2001, asked why I did it. I choose the pat-down over the scan primarily to show people that the option exists, that you do not have to consent to the most efficient option for the government’s ease. It’s also a visual reminder of the degree of scrutiny that is easy to forget when you spend only three seconds inside the machine. Maybe the memory of a freer world isn’t enough to make people miss it. Maybe some just don’t realize that missing it is an option. Or, more darkly, perhaps some just don’t find it worth missing. I take [liberty](https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/ancient-libertys-long-decline) seriously and question the legitimacy of power every day, but I still didn’t naturally wonder if I _could_ opt out of the full-body scan. And after finding out that I could, I didn’t immediately want to do it. A generation might inherit government powers and practices from previous generations without knowledge of the life that preceded those powers. Major historical events that affect policy disappear from personal memory and only the policy remains. What seems natural to a younger generation might only be a decade or two old. Today, [surveillance](https://www.libertarianism.org/articles/mass-surveillance-liberal-democracy-freedom-security-and-rise-soft-despotism) technology continues expanding into regular life. I can’t scroll my Facebook feed—perhaps the first comment I’ve made here that ages me—without seeing headlines of people [arrested](https://www.libertarianism.org/essays/civil-disobedience-when-do-we-have-duty-disobey) for tearing down Flock cameras near my hometown.[7](#_edn7) Flock cameras, which are automated license plate readers (ALPRs) used by some law enforcement, have recently come under national scrutiny for privacy and surveillance concerns.[8](#_edn8) Flock cameras record the details of every car that passes them, including their “make, model, color, . . . type of plate, \[and\] damage or alterations.”[9](#_edn9) Flock says that “law enforcement . . . can run a suspect’s license plate number or Vehicle Signature through the network to quickly identify the suspect’s location.”[10](#_edn10) Flock’s branding describes its technology as helping “communities deter crime, respond to emergencies, and investigate safety incidents.”[11](#_edn11) > Major historical events that affect policy disappear from personal memory and only the policy remains. What seems natural to a younger generation might only be a decade or two old. In a letter to Virginia lawyer and politician Edward Carrington regarding the Bill of Rights, [Thomas Jefferson](https://www.libertarianism.org/encyclopedia/jefferson-thomas) writes that “the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield . . . \[and\] government to gain ground.”[12](#_edn12) In the future, people might not remember what it was like to drive without a record of their movements created by a network of ALPRs. They might know it used to be possible, but knowing and remembering are different. For some, and eventually for all, what_ once _was _never_ was. _Now_ is _always_. New rules and legislation may seem intrusive until they become normalized as new generations accept them. Memory alone doesn’t provide the right way of living or governing, but it gives us a point of comparison for the present. Rather than wondering if something is possible, a person who has lived it already knows. As time passes, more events move from lived experience into history. New generations inherit institutions, ideas, and policies without the memories tied to them. One day, hopefully, someone will tell me that they don’t remember the pandemic. Or maybe—although I’d rather this not happen—they’ll say they don’t remember what roads were like before there was a Flock camera on every corner. Regardless, I’m sure I’ll look at them in complete surprise before I tell them what life was like before. ## Endnotes [1.](#_ednref1) “TSA History,” US Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration, [https://www.tsa.gov/history](https://www.tsa.gov/history). [2.](#_ednref2) Patrick G. Eddington, “The PATRIOT Act Has Threatened Freedom for 20 Years,” Cato Institute, [https://www.cato.org/commentary/patriot-act-has-threatened-freedom-20-years](https://www.cato.org/commentary/patriot-act-has-threatened-freedom-20-years). [3.](#_ednref3) Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT Act) Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107–56, 115 Stat. 272, [https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-107publ56/pdf/PLAW-107publ56.pdf](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-107publ56/pdf/PLAW-107publ56.pdf). [4.](#_ednref4) “Homeland Security Act of 2002,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security, [https://www.dhs.gov/homeland-security-act-2002](https://www.dhs.gov/homeland-security-act-2002). [5.](#_ednref5) “Technology: Transportation Security Administration,” US Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration, [https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/factsheets/technology](https://www.tsa.gov/news/press/factsheets/technology). [6.](#_ednref6) “Timeline: Transportation Security Administration,” US Department of Homeland Security Transportation Security Administration, [https://www.tsa.gov/timeline](https://www.tsa.gov/timeline). [7.](#_ednref7) This isn’t unique to one particular area. "Inside the growing vigilante movement to knock out Flock surveillance cameras,” The Guardian, [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jul/25/flock-surveillance-cameras](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jul/25/flock-surveillance-cameras). [8.](#_ednref8) Flock-Off Act, H.R. 10221, 119th Congress, [https://massie.house.gov/uploadedfiles/flock-off_act.pdf](https://massie.house.gov/uploadedfiles/flock-off_act.pdf). [9.](#_ednref9) “Frequently Asked Questions,” Flock Safety, [https://www.flocksafety.com/faq](https://www.flocksafety.com/faq). [10.](#_ednref10) “Frequently Asked Questions,” Flock Safety, [https://www.flocksafety.com/faq](https://www.flocksafety.com/faq). [11.](#_ednref11) Flock Safety, [https://www.flocksafety.com/](https://www.flocksafety.com/). [12.](#_ednref12) Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, May 27, 1788, Monticello, [https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/1576](https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/1576).