Argument Hour - Memories

Thanks to my sister for getting me on that Radio Lab tip. But here's the deal. Is it better for you to not remember your fondest memories.

As of right now, I am arguing yes. Imagine this. Your first kiss. Or the best one you've had. How do you remember it. Was it soft? Was the timing right? Was it with an amazing person?

Who knows how it is now. It happened. Now let me make a few points

• Purity. Why is it that there is no time that the memory of your first kiss is as pure as it was when it first happened. Why does it seemingly become less and less special everytime you think about it?
• View. How are you picturing this memory. In terms of what it was or in terms of what it is now?
• Memory. How exact is the memory you have of your first kiss?

What I am trying to say, is that perhaps there is good reason for you not to remember your fondest memories. If every time you think of this memory, you recreate it in your head. Aren't things going to be a bit different? Aren't you going to get some details wrong. Perhaps even skip out on some of the key elements of that memory. Maybe everything that built up to that first kiss made it special. Do you remember every single reason and moment that occurred to make this kiss so amazing?

Furthermore, when you recreate this memory, you are viewing it from the person you are now. Maybe you hate this person now, and you no longer see the kiss for what it was at that time. Something special. You are now distorting this kiss to be something that it is not. And the next time you choose to recall this memory, you default to the last way you described it. So after years of thinking of this first kiss, it has turned from something special, to something different.

So, if you do not recall all of your fondest memories, and reserve them for other times, then perhaps you are preserving these memories, in their purest state. You are saving them for what they first were, and not distorting your thoughts to make it something different.

Just a thought.