Things Worth Forgetting

Sometimes it’s hard to discern what is worth using our valuable brain space that remembers stuff and what to discard immediately.  Some people work to stretch that part of the brain, called the memoria cerebellum.  They learn numerous foreign languages, recall the millions of pin codes and passwords that life now requires, and store all of their friends and family’s birthdays, anniversaries and social security numbers.  More power to them, but I would never be so careless with such an important part of my brainhead.

This movie might be related

In fact, I try not to remember anything with the faith that anything that is really important will find its own way into my whatchamacallit.  Over time, through hard work and lot s of practice, I have become very successful in my pursuit of zero recall.  I can forget a person’s name immediately after they tell it to me…  I have been known to run to the grocery store for milk and comeback with chips and dip (man, that frito lay bean dip is freakin good)...  I have even trained my kids to respond to each other’s names for the frequent misapplication when they are in trouble.  There are many tools that I use to get me through everyday life without a memory (I found the movie “Memento” particularly helpful… or was it “Inception”?).  I have a rolodex of usernames and passwords that I reference daily so that I can pay bills… and I always put it in the same place so I won’t forget where it is.  My computer tells me when things are happening and if I don’t have time to deal with it, she reminds me every 5 minutes.  I’ve also really enjoyed the relief from gift giving duty that came with marriage.  Now all I need is for my computer to tell me when my wife’s birthday and our anniversary are so I can send my secretary to get her something.

I’m telling you, people that remember stuff are missing out.  I can enjoy movies over and over again and feel the suspense at the end every time.  Once a year I show up really early for work because I don’t change my clock for daylight savings time (assuming I still have work, after the bad daylight savings time when I showed up really late).  I’m also extremely trustworthy with secrets and surprises… in fact, I will probably be as surprised as everyone else even if I already was told about it.  Most people feel uncomfortable when someone starts up conversation with them and they can’t put a name with the face, but I have become a professional at faking recognition in these everyday situations.

All this mind-space saving has allowed me to realize what’s important in life… the things that seep in and stay there… like my batting average in 3^rd grade, my phone number growing up and the names of all seven of Snow White’s dwarfs.