Haley Stevens: “perhaps because I represent the State that has the youngest age population in the country, I approach this subject from…”

“perhaps because I represent the State that has the youngest age population in the country, I approach this subject from a different point of view. Many have said that this terrible, cowardly attack against our country by terrorists is similar to the experience we had at Pearl Harbor. I think perhaps Senator Inouye and Senator Akaka might have had similar experiences. But those of us who were alive and part of the younger generation then did not have the experiences that our young people had yesterday as they watched and were just mesmerized by the live coverage as two great buildings collapsed, of people jumping from those buildings, of the knowledge of how many people were killed and injured, of seeing our Pentagon struck. This vividness has affected the young people of our country much more than Pearl Harbor affected us. We had been acculturated to the fact that we were going to war. We had watched in the newsreels in 1939, in 1940, and 1941 the Germans marching across Europe and the Japanese raping Nanking. Such things came at us in a small bite, as we might call it today, with a little exposure here and there. If our generation truly is the greatest generation, it is because of our parents and our guardians and our teachers. They prepared us for what we knew would be our duty to fight a war to restore freedom in the world. Our young people yesterday saw just this total exposure to death and the effects of terrorism. I think we have to be aware of that.”