I don't really feel like .... having a memory as a toddler of 9/11 makes you a Millennial.

9/11 is the defining core memory of the Millennial generation. It's probably the main reason why people argue that kids born after 1995 don't count as millennials. It was a crazy event that is incomparable to anything since then; if you ask anyone born before 1995 what they were doing when they found out about 9/11, they can tell you with an incredibly clear memory.

The whole millennial generation took a step into adulthood that day. It was the day when a lot of us realized that conflict still exists, and that the U.S. is a part of it. It didn't matter if you were 9 years old or 20 years old, that day, we learned that someone out there really didn't like the U.S., that they would give their own lives to try to kill us. The whole world changed that day.