"Hearing the News" versus "Being There"

When I was little, probably around five, my mom picked me up from my grandmother's house late one night after she got done working her third shift job. At the time, she had two full time jobs so she was exhausted. As we drove home, both of us fell asleep. I woke up to a big jolt. When I asked my mom what had happened, she just said, "Oh we just ran up on the curb. It will be ok." I knew though that it was not ok because when we got home she parked her car in the garage, which is something she never did. I could tell something was wrong because she was really nervous. She made a pot of coffee and tried to get me to go to bed. About that time though, we heard someone pounding on the door. She rushed and turned all the lights out and told me to be really quite. I could see multiple people walking around our house with flashlights as we sat in the living room. My mother was so nervous that when she sat her coffee mug down on the end table, she did it too hard and knocked the glass out of the table and spilled the coffee all over our brand new carpet. Finally, we heard, "Its the police! Open up!" Turns out that my mom hit a parked car, which was a hit and run since she left the scene. My mother explained to the police what happened and why she was so tired, and they let her off with just a warning. Although I was little, that is one memory I will never forget because there was so much excitement, it was so emotional, and it affected me personally.

In the article, "'Hearing the news' versus 'being there': Comparing flashbulb memories and recall of first-hand experiences" by David Pillemer, Pillemer argues that people have an easier time recalling those memories that effect them personally compared to those they simply hear about. The example used in the article of an important event that people worldwide heard about is the attack on September 11, 2001. I do remember hearing about this event, but even more than that, I remember where I was and what exactly I was doing when I heard about it. Since I was not actually at the scene of the attack, I did not personally experience it. Therefore, I do not remember everything that actually occurred there. However, since I did personally experience hearing about the attacks, I can recall almost everything that was going on in my life when I heard of it.

Even being present during something, it can still be hard to remember every aspect and get all of the details right. During class when Aaron acted like a disruptive student, I tried to block what he was saying out because it did not seem important to me and I was trying to focus on the material we were being taught. Later when I found out that it was all an act and that we had to make a skit of what exactly had occurred, I had a really tough time recalling all of the details of what was said even though I was present during the entire event. A major reason for this is probably due to the fact that what was happening at the time had no significant important to me or any emotional connection attached. However, this does show that it is hard to get something documented exactly as it happened. Just hearing about an event makes it somewhat difficult to recall. Being there during the event makes that event easier to recall because of that personal connection, but it is highly unlikely that all the details of the event will be exact unless it is of huge significance to that person and has emotional ties.