What are four news events that you will always remember?

Question

where you were and what you were doing?

Mine are:

1. Space shuttle explosion I was in 6th grade in Japan watching it on television live in my class room
2. Baby Jessica in the well I was playing cards with my niece on the living room floor
3. Princess Diana car accident I was laying in bed sick with the flu reading people magazine.
4. September 11th I was in lockdown in the middle of a typhoon in Okinawa Japan, laying in bed when my husband woke me regarding the first hit (i thought it to be a drunk pilot) woke me again on the second hit and I knew then (grabbed my bags) ready to be recalled to work. When the third plane came under attack I dropped to my knees and began to pray.

What do you remember in your life that you reflect on.

I am amazed at how many people have answered this question. Keep reflecting, including the good memories. Thank you everyone for answering.

I don't think I can choose a best answer from almost 500 entries, I am usually pretty good at picking best answers, I think this one will go into voting. But thank you all for taking time to reflect.

Answer 1

4 disasters:

9/11 Watched it on the news as it happened
Bush 2000
Bush 2004
1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake - I was at the World Series

Answer 2

1) 9/11 - I had received a call from a friend about the first plane, I turned on the television just as the second plane hit. Watching those poor desperate people jumping to their deaths will stick with me forever.

2) The Challenger explosion - I was in 7th grade I was walking down the hallways when I peaked into another class room the students were watching the shuttle launch. I remember falling to the floor in shock then running back to my class and telling everyone.

3) The Death of John Lennon - I was about 6 or 7, visiting my birth mother, and I remember the radio station having a moment of silence. My mother being a Lennon fan ensured that we participated. (FYI All You Need is Love just came on the radio here)

4) The Oklahoma City bombing - I remember I was at work at a resteraunt. When we heard about it we took a tv out into the dining area and gathered around it. I remember being confused at not only being attacked on our own soil (which seemed impossible) but by Americans.

A runner up would be the Jeffery Dahmer story I remember being young and freaked out that someone could eat another person.

Answer 3

Space shuttle-5th grade I think, heard about it from Tom Brokaw and for weeks everyone was up in arms about it.
Hands across America/We Are the World record - I so wanted to be a part of the Hands across America thing, but it wasn't coming anywhere close to where I lived, so I bought the record instead.
9/11-going over some training stuff with a High School teacher who was being a pain when someone came into the lounge saying some rogue plane had just crashed into a skyscraper in NYC. We went to the library's computer closet where they kept all of the routers and stuff and they also had a tv in there. Shortly after we heard about it, they flipped the switch that blacked out all tv's on campus except the one in the library.
Iran Contra hearings (for some unknown reason)- I think I remember those because at the time my Dad was starting to be more mobile after his accident and we were having to go to the doctor's offices a lot. In most of them they had a tv on and had the hearings on. I remember thinking, I don't have a clue what all of this is about, but if I read something I'll just get interested in it when they call Dad's name so why bother. I was 13.


I don't really reflect or ponder over these things. I mean I was and still am sorry and in some cases a little angry that they happened, but it's not something a spend much time thinking about.
The things I do think about are happier things, like how grateful I am to be a member of the church I'm a member of, the ways in which I've been helped, and how God has helped me through people in my life, that kind of thing.

Answer 4

1. Space shuttle explosion. I was pregnant with my daughter.
2. Princess Diana car accident. I was listening to music very late that night and had the news on and Brian Williams from NBC came on and said she was in a car accident , then a few minutes later he came back and said she was dead. I could not believe it.
3. When John Kennedy Jr. was killed. I was devastated. I so wanted him to be President one day. I was watching CNN when they said his plane went missing.
4. September 11. I had a plumber over doing some pipe work. I didn't even know what happened until I stopped to watch TV for a second. Then they showed the first tower fall. It just made me sick. So I went out and hung the American flag.
My mom called crying. I also remember the sky that day. It was the bluest sky I had ever seen. It was a beautiful day. I couldn't help but think about the little children and babies on the planes. If I go to the airport now and I see little ones that day comes back as if it were yesterday.

Answer 5

#1 The breakdown of the Berlin wall. The emotions on peoples faces. Overpowering.

#2 The death of two people that were shining examples. First Mother Teresa, and second, this week, Majoor Bosshardt at age 94. Both women who LIVED what they believed, without pushing it in peoples faces. The world certainly is a lesser place without these two saints.

#3 9/11 - in more ways than one. I came home from the vet, after having to say a final farewell to one of my cats. A friend had called, and all he said was "turn on the TV". I could not believe what i saw - a plane hit one of those towers in NYC. I saw it as it happened, and thought first that someone took a Tom Clancy novel to a movie (Debt of Honor). I sat in front of the TV in disbelief for at least an hour. I still have a hard time believing it - but the hole in the NY skyline is evidence enough.

#4 The Space Shuttle explosion. I had seen the night before a short bio of the teacher, and how proud 'her' kids were that they`d soon have a 'teacher from space'. I hoped it was some kind of fireworks, but then the newscaster showed the picture of the astronauts. I really felt down, and sorry for the kids who would miss their teacher, and for some reason felt it as a personal pain. Still cannot explain why.

Answer 6

1. Space shuttle Challenger explosion, on spring break. I was 18. My sister and brother and I watched it all day trying to figure out how it happened.
2. September 11, was watching the early show and Bryant Gumbel came on talking about a plane hitting a building. I watched all day.
3. Elvis dying. I was with my mother (this is why I answered this question) on the way to swimming lessons. My dad was stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan. My mother pulled over to the side of the road and started crying. Swimming lessons were cancelled that day.
4. A school bus full of kids from Cahoun, California dying in an accident. I was 13 at the time and this was the first time that I had read about a group of kids dying.

Answer 7

9/11 - I had just switched from math class to social studies class in the 8th grade. I have no idea why the teacher thought to turn the television on before the second plane hit, considering most people still thought it was an accident. Half the class had their parents pick them up, and they went home.
The Columbia explosion - I do not remember if I was already watching the news, or it cut into the middle of a program I was watching, but Dan Rather was the news anchor, and I watched it for an hour while my brother begged me to change the channel because he was bored.
The bombing of Baghdad (start of current war) - I was in the tenth grade and I stayed up way past my bedtime starring at the television. There were lights flickering in the green night vision light. I cried and my Mom was screaming at me to stop watching this "garbage."
Hurricane Katrina - I did not realize how bad the situation was until I was watching the 5 o'clock news like any other day. I wanted to help but I could not skip school. I was alone when Kanye West made the comment about President Bush. I was channel surfing and happened to stop at that channel about 10 seconds before he said it.

Answer 8

For me they are the following:

A) Being in 1st grade and learning that president reagan had been shot. I remember watching cartoons when they interupted with a special report about the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan.

B) The second would be the explosion of the space shuttle challenger. Our class was watching the launch on television, I don't know why, but as soon as it happened I knew something horrible had happened.

C) Would be the Air Florida flight that crashed into the potomac river shortly after take off. Again I was watching t.v. and remember seeing news footage of people being pulled out of the water.

D) Obviously 9/11 also. My ex wife had just left for work, I went outside to move my car and heard a story about a plane that had hit one of the towers. I thought it was odd that a plane would hit an object that big in broad daylight. When I went back in and turned on my t.. the second plane had just hit the second tower. I knew instantly that it wasn't an accident. When the towers collapsed I began to cry because I figured there wre probably 10,000 people in the towers. I also began to pray that none of my friends and family were in or around the towers.

Answer 9

1. 9/11 - I woke up one morning at home and turned on the TV. It was a day off from work. I remember seeing the towers on fire, but when the first tower collapsed, I felt a sick feeling in my stomach.

2. Princess Diana death. Watching tv one night, I was surprised to see the news about it on tv. It was a very big surprise.

3. Columbia disaster. Being someone who is a strong supporter of the space program, I took this really hard. I had a big lump in my throat as I went to work after seeing this on the news.

4. Terrorists took over a school in Russia. I watched the whole thing live on TV, and it really struck me how real this was when the students were escaping. Some were running out half dressed, in complete terror. Some looked like they were injured. I can't imagine what they went through.

If I could add a 5th, I would say the tsunami in December 2004. I'd never seen such destruction and death in my life. I live in a country now that is prone to earthquakes and has tsunami warnings on TV whenever there's an earthquake in the ocean, so it's a very real concern. And I live near the ocean.

Answer 10

1. Definatly the Columbine massacre. I was 9 at the time and I remember just not being able to understand why people would do such a thing. I remember feeling horrible for the gunmens families because I knew they would have to live the rest of their lives with this.

2. September 11th. I watched the entire thing on TV and my uncle was on the phone with a friend of his who worked near the top of the first tower. He had it on speaker phone until about 5 mintures before it fell. I still remember hearing all the people in the background screaming.

3. Hurricane Katrina. When it hit I was at a friends house. I was still there when they started showing footages of the floods and the refugees.

4. Princess Diana. I was pretty young when she died, but I still remember seeing her on TV and in the magazines. I thought she was the best Princess I had ever seen. I was watching TV when the breaking news came on. I believe I cried when I saw the pictures from the crash.

I also remember the death of Kurt Cobain pretty well. My dad was crushed.

Answer 11

Mine would have to be integration of the schools, the space shuttle explosion, the Kennedy assassination and 9/11, in no particular order. I grew up in the 1950s and was therefore very sheltered. While traveling with my family I learned about segregation and felt it was wrong. I got a lot of flack for my equal rights stance both at school and when I began to work. This taught me that man's inhumanity to man is a valid idea. The Kennedy killing, the shuttle explosion and 9/11 were all so sudden, and violent, I learned more of the same, only add to that that the world is not a nice place to live. Cruelty abounds and common sense has not a chance against this man. There is no I in team nor is there in man until man acts. Humans are the most selfish entities on the face of Earth.