Memories can be funny things. What we remember and how we remember them are subject to change over the years. I'm not talking about a mental or physical problem though, I mean our own editing process. Sure, we can just delete selected scenes from our memories but what fascinates me is the rewriting. Small incidents become important and the big mistakes just fade away. The fascinating part in all of this is we believe it ourselves. That's the way I remember it ! How many times have you had that experience ? A sibling or close friends tells a story from the past and it just doesn't agree with your memory. How could they not remember correctly ? Why it is plain as day. That home run I hit was every bit of 400 feet and saved the game.
Fascinating too, is how the story may change, depending upon the audience. I certainly wouldn't tell a lie but I may tweek the story just a bit. Add or subtract a few minor details to make the tale flow a bit more smoothly. The memory itself remains intact, just the structure has been altered. It is all a matter of perspective. That's the way I saw it, so therefore it is. I didn't stumble, you tripped me. These little rewrites happen all the time. They do have a way of accumulating over the years. I have seen this happen to the point where the story is completely different. Funny thing is, it always happens to other peoples stories. especially my siblings. I hope it isn't a genetic predisposition. Nah, I remember everything just the way it happened.
As we age our memories become more important to us. That is why we want to share them. We all like to relive past triumphs and accomplishments. The older we get, the more important they become. It is almost as though we have a need to retell our lives. And in the retelling, a little editing never hurts. You don't make a great movie on the first take ! It is a cruel twist of fate that when our memories become important, they also become harder to extract. It is also a cruel twist of fate that the older we get the fewer people we have to share those first hand accounts of events with. I'm not complaining because I still have those memories. It has to be the cruelest twist of all when you lose them. I'll keep writing them down and yes, I'll edit them too.
Fascinating too, is how the story may change, depending upon the audience. I certainly wouldn't tell a lie but I may tweek the story just a bit. Add or subtract a few minor details to make the tale flow a bit more smoothly. The memory itself remains intact, just the structure has been altered. It is all a matter of perspective. That's the way I saw it, so therefore it is. I didn't stumble, you tripped me. These little rewrites happen all the time. They do have a way of accumulating over the years. I have seen this happen to the point where the story is completely different. Funny thing is, it always happens to other peoples stories. especially my siblings. I hope it isn't a genetic predisposition. Nah, I remember everything just the way it happened.
As we age our memories become more important to us. That is why we want to share them. We all like to relive past triumphs and accomplishments. The older we get, the more important they become. It is almost as though we have a need to retell our lives. And in the retelling, a little editing never hurts. You don't make a great movie on the first take ! It is a cruel twist of fate that when our memories become important, they also become harder to extract. It is also a cruel twist of fate that the older we get the fewer people we have to share those first hand accounts of events with. I'm not complaining because I still have those memories. It has to be the cruelest twist of all when you lose them. I'll keep writing them down and yes, I'll edit them too.
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