Memory blog.

My memory by Shane Buxman
One of my least favorite things about myself is that I can hardly remember events in my life. However, one event has stuck out, the earthquake in Haiti. Out of all my memories, I can recall this one perfectly for the length on the quake. I was watching a movie on the balcony with my two brothers and sister. The movie was “rat race” and it was at the part where Whoopee Goldberg’s character was in the sonic car. As the room started to shake, we all just thought it was a truck. It went on for a couple seconds before I realized something wasn’t right. The thought “earthquake popped into my brain and I knew exactly what to do. I ran to find a table. I ran down the stairs and met our mastiff about half way. He was freaking out trying to stand, I continued into the kitchen where I saw the fridge spilling stuff everywhere, I could have sworn it was going to fall, I paused for a moment trying to remember where the table was, turned left, paused in the next room again, then turned left and dove under the table. I crouched under it as I watched the bookshelves fall and our freezer shake. I couldn’t here anything except the roaring and all I was focused on was watching the books fall. Finally it ended and I came pout of the table and walked outside where I saw my siblings run. I still heard nothing (why my family say they heard tons of screaming), and then my brain goes back into super spotty mode. I’m sure I remember this because it was one of the few times I can recall nearly dieing. I remember my other near death instances just the same but this one was the longest.
1)What happens in our brain that causes us to remember some things and not others?
2)Why does fear create such clear cut memories in one person, but blocks out the memory in other people?