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Total recall?


We ate Tai – We ate Italian

Total Recall. No way!

Memories. Those fantastically flawed pearls… Remember the time we…? Remember that summer when..? Remember how she used to…?

Our mind endlessly stores and recalls information, but how intact are these morsels we dredge up from the past? After all, personal reactions and interpretations about situations as well as the passing of time can obfuscate reality. And then, of course, there is the natural tweaking, denying or downright lying that occurs in day to day communications in order to be more entertaining, win an argument or hide one’s shame. What about the desire to remember the past through rose colored glasses, conveniently forgetting that life had its ups and downs even back then. And in cases of extreme trauma the memory can be blocked, consequently removed completely.

Who hasn’t been in this situation? You are talking to someone about a past event that you both participated in (or were present at) and the details don’t match. You both just cannot agree.

To illustrate, there is a very amusing song from the movie Gigi (from 1958) wherein Maurice Chevalier and Hermione Gingold are recalling the time they met. Below is just a snippet from the song I remember it well.

We met at nine We met at eight I was on time No, you were late Ah yes, I remember it well. We dined with friends We dined alone. A tenor sang A baritone. I remember it well. That dazzling April moon! There was none that night. And the month was June That’s right, that’s right.

At the end of the day, the foremost memory for the two protagonists was that the day they met changed both their lives forever; proven by the fact that now, as an elderly couple, still together and in love, they reminisce, even if they just can’t seem to get the details to match.

So, if the memory needs to be intact for legal reasons or mental health issues and the like, then with the help of professionals the minutiae is undeniably important in its exactness.

But, if we are recalling the past in a lighter version then lets not get too hung up on, or sweat the details about…

that awesome summer by the sea..

no! at the park…

tanning all day…

no! swimming till dark…

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