In English, we have received another class novel. This book is called ‘The Dons’, and I have really enjoyed reading this fantastic book!
When I read books, I usually pick up a main topic in them. After reading The Dons, I felt a post forming in my head. This is the very post that I have been looking forward to writing. This post is all about memories.
If there was a house fire, and you got the chance to save a few items, what would they be? This is the question that formed in my head after reading The Dons. I decided to go around and ask a few people this question, feeling very curious about what their answers would be. I have listed their responses below, which I’m sure you’d like to read.
Mum- I would choose my oboe (a woodwind musical instrument) and photographs.
Grace– I would save my pet dog, and some objects that mean something to me like photos.
Mrs McLeay– I would save my computer and the baby photos of my kids.
You may have noticed that all three people have mentioned that photographs would be one of their choices to save. But why photos? Lets find out.
Why were photographs one of your choices?
Mum– You can never replace them.
Grace– They show what happened in the past and you can’t buy them.
Mrs McLeay- That time of my life can never be replaced. It’s a way of talking to my children about what life was like for us then- reminding them of things they’ve forgotten.
If you think about all the things you use a lot in your house, or items that cost a lot to buy, you would probably feel that it is a big loss that you no longer own them anymore. However, the biggest loss would be the things that you cannot buy/replace. These things include:
Your pets- Pets are amazing things. When you first meet your pet, you are unaware of all the mysteries within that very animal. You hardly know the pet, however you are willing to take it back to your home and care for it. You pet gives back what you have given to it, making every second you spend with it something to remember it by. Each time you play with it, look after it, and touch it, you grow closer and closer to that animal. The very same thing happens to it as well, and very quickly the bond becomes so strong that you both need each other. The fact that your best friend has perished in a fire would devastate you so much. Every pet is individual and no other pet that could replace it. Therefore, if you could, you would save your friend that you became attached to so that you can both continue your lives together and share the many pleasures of friendship together.
These three people also mentioned that they would save items that are quite valuable to them. These items include things such as computers. Your computer is like a personal information keeper. Data for work, programs that are quite expensive and other things you have spent ages working on for a reason would all be lost, causing you to become very frustrated. The computer itself would also be a loss as computers can do so many things. Access to the internet, music, blogs and videos can all be found on a computer. I can tell you now, I would be very angry if learnerblogs just cut out on me right now and I lost the whole of this post I have been writing.
Another thing that these people mentioned was special items. Most people have an item which is very important to them, like Grace mentioned above. My mum would choose to save her oboe as it is a special item to her. Besides the value and the use, this item means a lot to her. Her passion for music is expressed through her oboe, and by playing this special instrument, it also brings back memories. The whole side of her family’s all fond of their music, and losing this item would be quite a loss to her. In The Dons, one of the characters called Nonno (Paul’s grandfather), had a collection of aftershave bottles. These were his special items, and each bottle brought back memories of his past. When the bottles were smashed, the loss was so bad because those bottles had become a part of him.
This leads me to the final thing that all these people mentioned. Photos. Experiences, childhood, and other things that have happened in the past cannot be replaced. What you have experienced in the past is in your head. You can’t physically touch them, and you can never turn the clock back to do the whole thing again. What’s in the past, is in the past, but you can still remember many of these experiences in your head. However, not all of these experiences can be remembered this easily. This is where photos come in. Believe it or not, photos are a link to the past. They help bring back all those memories that are fading inside your head. Do you ever look back at your baby photos and you suddenly remember all those memories of when you were little? Without photos, your childhood may seems like a blur.
I remember looking back at all the photos of my early life. The photos of me up a tree, our old car, my pram with the big yellow balloon attached to it… And then I remember looking at the photos and going, “Is that me?” Those memories were fading, and without the photos, I may never have found out what life was like for me back then. The huge 1 year old birthday cake, the bucket of wooden blocks, the people I still know now, but younger… Those photos brought back so many memories of being a baby, and without them, my childhood would just be a blur. All the good times I had need to last, and with the help of photos, I can look back at them even when I’ve finished school and all of the memories will flood back into my head again. This is exactly what Mrs McLeay was talking about above, and this is the reason that photos would definitely be one of my choices to save as well.
Feel free to explain what you would save if there was a house fire through a comment, as I’m curious to see what other people would choose. Also, if you get the chance to, pick up a copy of The Dons book and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did!