Childhood memories......Are ours the way we were, or the way we weren't? In an earlier post I asked how far back could you remember? Did you know scientists at Georgetown University have determined that moths can remember when the were caterpillars? I promise I read this, and I promise the article said it was true. This article does my inferiority complex no good at all, as I can't remember where i put the remote, much less life as a fetus.
The memories I do have as a very young child of course are of very important things like pegged pants with zippers on the inside of my Levi Jeans so I could get them over my foot. Or of white dress shirts with the collar turned up and the tails so long they reached my knees. And how about those penny loafers, you talk about cool. My memories turn to baseball and football games when I think of my older youth. Of dances and the Varsity or Yellow Jacket. Oh ...I can go on and on and if I go into detail most of what I tell you will be accurate although there possible would be a couple of misrepresentations included. During 1969 there was a music festival called Woodstock. You probably remember hearing of it. No I wasn't there but have talked to many that say they were. From watching the documentary of Woodstock and reading the accounts of it, and if my memory serves me right, there were 500,000 people there. What I have determined from my research is, out of the half million people in attendance, there is no way more than a 150 could have been sober or straight enough to have any memory of these 3 days what so ever. Same with Hank Aaron's 715th home run. How in the world did they get 300,000 people into old Atlanta / Fulton County Stadium?
My conclusion isn't that we are bad people or that we are flat out telling lies. My conclusion is that maybe our memories aren't very good. But I also believe thinking back must be good for us. It exercises our brain. It must keep us healthier. And one other thing. These stories of yesteryear we tell and hear brings us pleasure. I know when Peggy tells of going to pick peaches with her daddy, of going to the farmers market to sell them and of sleeping in the truck, if you look at the sparkle in her eyes each and every time she tells this story, there is no doubt of the great pleasure she is experiencing by not only telling it but also remembering it.
As all this came to mind today, it again made me wonder of my grand kids and their memories. What part of their memories will be affected by computers? In 50 years when they want to remember an experience they had will they turn to the memory bank
of their brain or go to GOOGLE? Have you noticed how much we put on computers today? Things like pictures and even blogs such as mine. Is this good or bad? This is another one of those questions I have no answer for. Maybe by putting it all on computers we're saving brain cells to remember other things like cell phone numbers or a shortcut in the latest video game we've purchased.
You know, maybe a moth has a better memory than I do. I'm man enough to admit that. But I believe if I had watched ancestor after ancestor fly into an open flame and die, I would have learned not to fly to close to the fire. Now, let's go make some memories.
HAVE A BLESSED DAY!!!!!!
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