Disparate Memories......

At the age of 72 I have a lifetime of memories to reflect upon.....and to share with family and friends. And it's always been interesting to me how an event can hold a completely different part of one person's memory when compared to another's. Both individuals shared the experience....but have totally different memories of it.

I was reading a novel by Jodi Picoult titled A Spark of Light and one of the characters reflected on this very thing. The passage described how the character, a college professor, explained memory to her students. And I quote: "She started each semester showing a random student a photo of himself or herself at an event or in a certain geographical place. After a few questions, the student was able to remember that moment, and to fill in the details. The catch? The student had been Photoshopped into the picture, and had never actually been there.

Olive would explain to her students that the brain is constantly telling us lies. It simply can't record every detail that our eyes see, so instead, the occipital lobe adds what it assumes is there. The brain isn't a video recording - it's more like a photo album, and in between those pictures it fills in the blanks. The result is that false memories can be created more easily than any of us want to believe. There will be incidents you swear on your mother's grave happened a certain way....but didn't."

Now certainly this is a novel, but I also know this author does a fair amount of research. So while she is not a scientist, her explanation made sense to me....and explained a possible reason why, for instance, my sister and I have such varying memories of our childhood and family years in Park Ridge, Illinois. And of course our age difference plays a big part....what I was seeing as a 14 and 15 year old was a different reality than she was witnessing as my younger sister while six and seven. Think of the difference in perception between a first grader and a high school sophomore.

So we each have our own memories.....and there is no point in trying to "sway" anyone to accept that your memory is right....and theirs is wrong. They are memories....personal memories colored by time. Most are good.....some are sad and life-changing.

The power of a memory.....it fades, but somehow never disappears.....