"Memory is a tenuous thing, like a rainbow's end or a camera with a failing lens. Sometimes my focus is sharp, every detail clear as the splashes of ice, fringing the eaves; other times it is a hazy field of frost, like the meadow outside my window." - Ellen Hopkins, Impulse.
Most of us all have things we regret. Whether it be a stupid mistake, a past relationship, or something you did wrong that's been bothering you since. Most of us also say that if we could, we would erase, forget. But would we really? You can't even imagine what it would be like not to have that memory. To have everything associated with it gone. It does make you who you are. But is that a good thing when the memory can destroy you?
I know there are things I want to forget. And chances are, I probably would forget them. Two ex's.. Yeah. If given the chance, I would erase them. The memories may fade, and the thoughts occur less often, but new feelings occur. Feelings of regret or nostalgia. And honestly, they suck. It would be nice not to have those.
However currently, we are a long way away from being able to erase just one memory and keep the rest in tact. It could be bad once, if ever, it actually can be done. Only because of the fact that you could do something wrong, and completely erase it. How could, if needed, the police prove it? Although if you were, say, raped or abused, it would be nice to forget that. I don't think anyone really wants to live with such memories.
Memory is an interesting thing. The things one can remember are random. And then they can go and forget something so simple. Somehow, I managed to memorize a 46 letter word, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. Yet when I need to pay a fee, I forget to bring the money. Or someone will say something, and I'll forget it moments later and have to ask again.
When I was younger, I fell with a fork. Lovely, no? I'm pretty sure I only remember it because my mom told me. Perhaps part of it was my imagination. She told me that I fell with a fork. Yet somehow I remember walking while holding a fork and tripping. And then I have a memory of her holding me in a waiting room with a tissue covering my nose. So I'm not sure if that was real, dreamed, or what. But I don't remember anything between then. I was told I got a bear from an EMT. I don't recall this. I thought I blacked out, but apparently not. It's interesting to me how our mind works. I'm not sure if we'll ever really know fully how it works and why we remember or forget things. We have explanations, sure. But who's to say they are accurate?
"Memory is a tenuous thing, flickering glimpses, blue and white; like ancient, decomposing 16mm film. Happiness escapes me there, where faces are vague and yesterday seems to come tied up in ribbons of pain. Happiness? I look for it instead in today, where memory is something I can still touch, still rely on. I find it in the smiles of new friends, the hope blossoming inside. My happiest memories have no place in the past; they are those I have yet to create." - Ellen Hopkins, Impulse.
Very interesting article. Keep up the great writing!
ReplyDeleteThank you (:
ReplyDeleteI found your article very interesting!:D We forget. I forget. I always forget. whether it is what person said to me three minutes ago, or what i read right now. but as the stages of memory says, we often remember what we put an effort in remembering. just as i did right now. I read what you wrote, and chose to put an effort in remembering it. Situations that have been, and will be uncomfortable in future, will as a part of my personal defense mechanisms be forgotten. I choose to not put an effort in remembering what happened, but sometimes, the memories come back, and I feel like i don´t have choice. which I actually don´t anyways. Random memories pop up all the time-like from when I was a child and stood in the playground looking at all the other children playing. or was that a dream. i dont know.
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