March 9, 2011 16:02
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It’s made up of so many things; picture albums, parental accounts, candid video shots, but most importantly my few scant memories. Those memories, so fragile that a mere suggestion could render them obsolete, and yet I believe in what they show me of my childhood.
Personally, I think memories are what you make of them. So false memories matter, but I feel their impact less. Memories are as strong as you make them; you have a say in what you remember and what you don’t. Depending on your personality & preference, you either easily forget certain pinpoints/chunks of events in your past or you have to work at it. False memories are the same; some people are just more susceptible to believing others’ accounts of past events, especially if they doubt their own memory.
If a person’s memories are found out to be all false, what does it say about them? That they were too much of a coward to remember things as they were? Or that something so traumatic happened to them that the memories must be replaced & buried? I don’t know. That’s their story to explain when and to whom they may.
You are what you choose to be. So if you define yourself by your memories and some or all of your memories are false, then I guess your identity is partially or all false, meaning you are false. But that all depends on your definition of false; there are many truths, no one is The truth.
What I’m saying is that although memories make up a significant part of us, they are not everything. There is no need to give in to despair at the thought of false memories; it is one of the many foibles of humankind. Instead, pity those who cannot forget, who remember every wrong done to them, who cannot learn to forgive.
I can’t believe I went off on a tangent >.< need to work on that =_=
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