Instead of remembering the bad things, remember what happened immediately before...Because of all that, my father always remembered the second before my mother left him for good and took me with her. No. I remembered the second before my father left my mother and me. No. My mother remembered the second before my father left her to finish raising me be herself.Have you ever noticed that of everything that has happened to us in our lives, we tend to remember the bad things the most vividly. I look back on elementary school and remember some of the good times, but for the most part, I can remember little instances in which I was made fun of or hurt in such a way. Those are the memories I will remember forever. So what happened to treasuring our memories?
Sherman Alexie is on to a good idea in his story "Because My Father Always Said He was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at Woodstock." He addresses the idea of remembering the good times right before the bad times, instead of remembering the bad times themselves. Then when you look back on your lives, you can feel like you've had your share of good times without becoming too concerned with the bad aspects of your life. But then again, sometimes it's valuable to remember the bad times and learn from them, so they aren't repeated.
Another way Sherman Alexie addresses memories is in his descriptions of the dad's, the mom's, and the son's different memories of the same event. Multiple people can experience the same event but remember it completely differently. Everyone comes from a different perspective because everyone is different. Events can evoke one emotion in one person and a completely different emotion in someone else. In this way, everyone can learn something different from the same event.
Memories are important...they teach us different things and help us to learn from our mistakes. But it is important not to dwell too much on bad memories. Instead, remember the good times that happened right before the bad times. Treasure and safe guard good memories and learn from the bad ones. And remember...memories are different for everyone. No two people are exactly the same..and that's the way it should be.
5 comments:
Rebecca-
That is extremely true! When I think back on times in my life, I tend to think about the worst of times and not think about the best of times. I wish I could be more like the dad suggested. If I now focused my life's memories on the good times right before the bad times instead of just the bad times, my life would seem much happier to me. I think that I would learn to enjoy life more and this would also help me to stop dwelling on life's bad experiences.
Great Blog!!
-Rachel :)
I agree with you that most people tend to remember the bad memories the most. I think that the really good memories tend to last just as long. Sherman Alexie did a good job when he pointed out that it is up to us to determine whether a memory is good or bad. We also have to remember that a memory can be very good for some people and at the same time be bad for others, like in sporting events.
I totally agree! this is a really awesome blog, way to look at things! :) i enjoyed reading this and getting a new perspective on the story, and life in general!
I agree with your comment that "Multiple people can experience the same event but remember it completely differently." It made me think about how people can interpret events in completely different ways depending on who they listen to, which is interesting and maybe a little scary. Information sources are known to be biased—news stations and textbooks for example—which makes me wonder how informed we are on any given topic. Maybe knowing what exactly happened (which seems to be very difficult to find out because people remember things differently) is not as important as simply being aware that our view of it may be skewed.
And a point possibly more relevant to your post, which seemed to focus more on personal memories: I can also relate to this because I often find myself "filtering" stories my friends tell me to try to get the facts straight--I know which friends will be more levelheaded and realistic and which will likely be overdramatic.
Ahhh I love your blog Rebecca. And when I was reading the story, I almost felt a hint of embarrassment because I could relate to remembering bad memories more vividly than good. This story had an extraordinary way of illustrating how people and their differences can easily interfere with memories. I like your concluding paragraph about treasuring good memories and learning from bad; you hit it nail on the head.
Awesome blog!! =)
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