Given this post will be displayed on New Years Eve I thought it an appropriate topic of discussion. As humans go through life our thoughts morph over time. Some say it is due to growth and learning while others will tell us we change our views because we lack conviction, or in the case of politicians, are trying to avoid an impending conviction.
If most of us live long enough one thing or another will steal our memories a little at a time. It is a sad and wretched thing to watch, but it seems to wait for all of us in one form or another.
An episode of “Dr. Who” had the line “The human super power is forgetting. Who knew?” As a species we choose to remember things as we wish them to be in the current moment. While this can help us get over trauma it can also those who inflict trauma to more easily isolate any guilt they may feel.
All of us alter our memories no matter how we deny it. The biological process and history of events which occur after any event in question cause us to both consciously and unconsciously morph our memories into something we wish to hold onto or something we will ultimately forget. Some call it selective memory but that is not really correct because it does not explain how we remember things incorrectly. Allow me to illustrate with a quote from an episode of “Babylon 5” I watched many years ago.
“Love? Pah. Overrated. Here, look, these are my three wives: Pestilence, Famine and Death. Do you think I married them for their personalities? Their personalities could shatter entire planets! Arranged marriages, every one, but they worked out. They inspired me. Knowing that they were waiting at home for me is what keeps me here — 75 light years away.”
This quote is from Londo to Vir in an episode titled “Soul Mates” but some sources attribute to “The War Prayer.” While I haven’t watched the series in years I own the entire series on DVD and watched it many times. Yes, I’m a binge watcher, just not a streamer. I’m a fan of the series so I should be able to remember my favorite lines correctly, but I do not. I remember that quote being followed up with
Londo: From time to time they surprise me.
Vir: How so?
Londo: In the heat of battle I turn to see them riding by my side. It’s an odd kind of comfort knowing that Hell has not chosen me on that day.
Think about this, an avid fan doesn’t remember a favorite line correctly and multiple places on-line attributing the scene to different episodes. True, I could set the record straight and binge watch the entire show over a few days, but this post isn’t about setting the record straight. Rather it is about our own thoughts morph. Some say they morph over time, but in truth time has very little to do with it. All of the experiences and thoughts we absorb during that time change how we remember things.
In some ways this post is a follow up to my nagging little questions post about writing things down and keeping them in a safe place. Months or years later those writings won’t be what you remember. They will either have changed or been dropped from your thoughts. True, the older you may wish to forget them but truer still, the older you can fix them.
Most of us were forced to read at least part of “To Kill a Mocking Bird” in high school. How many of you would have believed, if you had been told then, that Mr. Finch really was a racist in the first book kept in a drawer for decades.
Keep your drawer full. Have a Happy and safe New Years Eve.