Chapter 8 Entry

     It was like any other day in the fifth grade.  I arrived at school around 8:30am, ate breakfast with friends, and headed off to class before it started at 9:00am.  We were sitting at our desks awaiting our teacher to begin class.  As he was preparing himself to teach, my math teacher came into the room and pulled him aside.  She was in tears as she began to break some type of news to him.  He went to turn on the television, and there I saw what looked like a cool action movie.  A really tall building had appeared to be on fire.  He told us that what was on television was not fake, and that it was happening as we looked at it. He informed us that the building was the Twin Towers located in Manhattan, New York and that a plane had just flew into one of the towers.  My math teacher came back into the room in tears stating that her brother was on a flight to Manhattan, but was not sure if his plane was one of the one that flew into the towers. The class just continued to watch the television still in shock that this was actually happening.  As we watched, another airplane had flown into the other building.  Some of the students screamed and others began to cry.  I couldn’t believe that this was happening.  Shortly afterwards, the news station began to show a man with a turban on his head.  Was this the man that did this?  I was so confused as to what and why this was going on.  The teachers were assembled and conversing in the hallway.  My teacher, came back into the room, turned off the television and said, “let’s begin today’s lesson.”

     This is my flashbulb memory of the events that took place on 9/11. That happened to be one of the most memorable days of my life, even though it was not filled with pleasant events.  It was the first time I experienced something such as that.  I learned that when experiencing a flashbulb memory is a clear memory of an emotionally significant moment or event.  When experiencing flashbulb memories, our nervous system takes a snapshot of everything that is going on. This is why people are able to remember such memories years after their occurrence.