Talking to Teenagers in Beirut About What 9/11 Means to Them

September 11, 2001, was a pivotal moment in America's understanding of the Middle East. Every teenager in the United States has grown up with the legacy of that day and the knowledge that there are Arabs who hate them simply because of the passports they carry. That single act of terror spawned the boogeymen of an entire generation—bearded, homicidal fanatics spouting mindless, envy-fueled hatred of the West. In some cases, that's the only representation of the Arab world young Americans have ever known.

But what about the teenagers of the Middle East—what does 9/11 mean to them? Last year, I spent the 14th anniversary of the attacks asking kids in Beirut what they think about the day we will never forget.

Mohammed, 14
What happened [on 9/11] was horrible and wrong. Some Arabs are terrorists, it's true. But not all of us. People like daesh [the Islamic State] don't represent us. If I could talk to American kids, I would tell them we have different lives but we're the same as them. I don't hate America. I would like to travel to the US to study and get to know them.

Fawwaz (center), 16
We are exhausted here. The region is exhausted—always fighting and war. Americans think we hate them. We don't hate them. We wish we had what they have. There are terrorists here but most of us think they're wrong—they don't have religion or care about God. These people shouldn't be on the face of the earth, because they made us all look bad. They live among us, they look like us but they're not like us.

Mariam, 14
When the planes flew into those two buildings, it changed everything for America, and for us. Now so many of them think all of us want to hurt them and destroy them. But that's not the truth. I understand why they might think that, but they have to examine their opinions. Not all people from the same area think the same way. If I could talk to an American girl, I would tell her that we're the same, that there is no difference between human beings. We probably watch the same shows, like the same clothes and music. Just because some Arabs did this doesn't mean all Arabs would do that.

Mustafa, 16
I believe the Americans think we are backwards, uneducated, and that we hate them. I wish I could talk to them and change their minds. If they lived with us, if they got to know us, they would see that most of us are just like them. We just want to study and work and live our lives.

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