Memory

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 With the hundreds of people you meet through your life, why can’t you remember them? 

Perhaps it was those kids you went to class with but when you look in the yearbook you don’t recognize any of the names. When someone tells you a name of someone you worked with for years and there is no recollection of that person, is it that much time has passed since you worked with them or maybe they did not make that much of an impression on you.

And the ones we do remember? 

There are fermentable years when everything seems important and those who share those experiences become what I call “partners in time”. They could be most anyone with similar or total different personalities but since they were present in a life changing experience, they should be remembered. 

Others are drawn to each other by like values or interest or knowledge or even desire. 

The amount of time spent with these people and additional shared experiences and likes confirms and strengths the memory of these people. We may even call them “friends”. 

Over the years, these “friends” part and create new experiences with new people. Some move physically away while others tend to part from previously shared views and emotions. 

The memory of each either fades or is reinforced by perceptions of who that person is or was in your memory. 

So in the end when someone asks you if you know a name or see a picture without any recognition, don’t worry. Without being in the history book or having a statue built of you, you and your name will dissipate into an image that will be introduced to small children, as “This is your great-great grandfather” with little to no description of what you did, how you felt, what your beliefs were, or how you failed. 

Losing memory may not be harmful, as we try to forget the bad and remember the good (or what we revise in our minds to make good). Forgetting all that clutter of names and faces of unnecessary times and people keeps your mind sharp on the people and times that matter. 

So if I don't remember your name or recognize your face, just smile. 

You may remember it differently.