Fewer Remembering?

[PennLady]

Guess I'm not the type to have "idols" I can;t compare the event of a world leader passing or a trajedy like 9/11 to someone who entertains for a living.

I am inclined to agree with you. Nothing against Lennon or Mercury or Elvis or Hank Williams or anybody else, I just don't equate any of them with a world leader, such as JFK or Indira Ghandi. I can admire talented people, but I don't hold them in high regard foranything else.

I am not comparing the death of JFK or Indira Ghandi or anyone else with the death of Lennon or Mercury or something like 9/11.

I was 10 when Lennon died; I had a vague notion of who he was. But it was the first thing I heard on the radio when I woke up this morning, and it stuck in my head. That's it. It has nothing to do with "idols" or anything else, just something that stuck in my head. If I'd woken up two minutes later, I might not have known for a while, or it wouldn't have stuck in my head.

It was a similar thing with Mercury -- I woke up for class one day and it was the first thing I heard on the radio, which was my alarm. At 22 or whatever, I had more of an idea of who he was than I'd had of Lennon, but again, I wasn't a huge fan or anything like that. With Princess Di, it so happened I was with my parents and brother and we went to a store and I think my dad picked up the paper and we were all like, "Wow. Look at that."

In nearly all cases, it's the sheer unexpectedness of the news that makes it stay in my head more than anything else, regardless of who or what the subject is.

 

[TimothyM]

I think you are right - it's often the circumstances and the sudden surprise of being told which decide whether you remember a particular event, if it's not one of those world wide things.

E.g. John Lennon's death: I don't remember (I was probably too young). But I have a friend who is not much older who remembers being in morning assembly at school. A girl who was from the most senior classes asked to be allowed to speak. She just said very simply that John Lennon had been shot and killed. People gasped and some began to cry or whisper.
Then she started singing Imagine (she had a good voice). Everyone went absolutely quiet, and afterwards the mood was very sad and subdued. So this memory just stayed with my friend and probably a lot of other people in the audience.

I know people who were on a flight from the US to Paris on the morning Princess Di was killed. They were woken up for breakfast and a bit later as they approached the airport, the captain came on the give the various traditional announcements. But he ended by saying that he had just heard that Princess Diana had died in a car accident in Paris. My friends said that it was so weird, people just sat there for a moment in total disbelief. Then a lot of them started crying, and soon everybody were talking about it.

Anyway, it's interesting to read about which events other people remember like that and why. So thanks for this thread, SR, hope it will go on for a bit longer.

 

[topace]

49 years ago, I wasn't even thought of yet, cause my mother was only 4 and my dad was 11.

But yeah, I remember 9/11. I will never forget that day. It's one of those days that will go down in infamy.

 

[TinyBeth]

I would have to say My first day I'll always remember would have to be when Challenger blew up. I wont forget 911 either but yea the shuttle exploding is always I think going to be that first big shock. That moment when I learned that things don't always go as planned.

Same here. I was in the first grade when they came over the intercom and announced the Challenger had broken up on re-entry. Our whole class broke down.

 

[TinyBeth]

While I was too young to remember JFK's assassination, I have seen the footage and heard my parent's tell the story so many times I feel sometimes like I was. My Dad also shook hands with Bobby Kennedy shortly before he was shot. Both left a mark on me regardless of my age.