Sanchay Devnath, Week 13: Value of Memory

Growing up, I was always baffled by how forgetful adults were of past events.

Hey Dad, when was the first time you lived without your family for over a day?

I don't know."

Mom, what classes did you take in seventh grade?

"I can't remember."

Looking back, I can understand why my parents were forgetful of such information about their lives. I have realized that as people grow older, they hold less information about their past.

Is this because of aging? Is it because they have too much to remember? Is it both?

Regardless of the reason, having more memory about the events that have unfolded in one's life enables one to have a bigger library of experiences, which fosters wisdom and appreciation for life.

However, the remembrance of so many memories can be overwhelming as it could cause a person to constantly ruminate about their past actions and mistakes – evoke feelings of anxiety and regret. This fear could not only damage their mental health but could seep into the lives of their loved ones–causing even more despair.

Overall, it is safe to say that our ability to recollect memory has power over our lives. Understanding this idea is more significant than being able to recollect memory, as once you understand the downfalls and benefits of this ability, you can utilize it to your advantage–as long as you know how to avoid falling into the mental trap of this gift.

Hopefully, we will be able to answer the questions our children ask about our childhood.

This graph illustrates why half of a person's conscious life is over by the age of seven

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2015/07/98.png


Comments

  1. Hi Sanchay! I found your blog extremely relatable but also very interesting. I enjoyed your usage of dialogue and personal anecdotes to convey your argument. I found them very personal, and the anecdotes encouraged me, the reader, to ruminate on the purpose of them. A connection I made while reading your blog was how I asked my Dad and Mom on multiple occasions if they remember any Algebra, Precalculus, or Calculus from their years of studying at college. The response I received included questioning if they ever took any of these math courses. As a result, like you stated, the consciousness of a person’s entire life does deteriorate as their lives progress. I found the graphic you attached to the end of the blog very interesting but also shocking as the memory of a person exponentially decreases as the years go by. Thank you for sharing your experiences Sanchay!

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  2. Hey Sanchay, I had a great time reading your blog this evening! I was drawn to your text because it explores ideas and questions I often find myself pondering about.

    I appreciate how you start your blog with something about yourself because it concretely demonstrates that you have a robust, personal connection to your topic and that I’m not reading a blog with hollow words. Instead, I—and I am sure other readers too—feel confident that every single word carries meaning and each sentence was strung together carefully to achieve a particular meaning that you believe in. The personal anecdotes that you begin your blog with serve as an effective introduction—they neither overwhelm readers with hard-core facts nor serve as an overly cliché hook. Rather, it was simple and neat, and it added to the feel of a personal voice behind your words. Quite comically, I often find my own parents responding to questions about their past in a manner similar to that of your parents; and just like you, I would wonder why it was so hard for adults to remember details from their childhood. One suggestion I have is constructing a smoother transition between these personal anecdotes and the section that follows—reflecting upon and evaluating your experiences. But overall, I thought the blog was wonderful, as it provided another opinion to a debate that runs long in my head.

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  3. Hi Sanchay!
    I was taken aback by the amazingness of your blog post this week! It was truly enlightening to read how you were "always baffled by how forgetful adults were of past events." Although your text was miniscule, I do think it complimented the writing style you are attempting to embody. Through your dialogue, especially, I was able to interpret the severity and seriousness to how a conversation as such would cause me to be just as baffled as you. The way you acknowledged both the negative and positive aspects to the power memory has over us, was also very insightful and professional. In ending your blog with future advice by stating that "[we] can utilize it to [our] advantage–as long as [we] know how to avoid falling into the mental trap of this gift," I feel that the quality of your post was spectacular and found your take on memory to be thoroughly interesting. If in the future, children do inquire about my past life, I know that this specific blog post will have a profound impact on the way I will be able to answer questions about my childhood. Overall, I really enjoyed your blog and after reading it I remember uttering to myself what a "wow" this linguistic masterpiece is.

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