One of the great things about good friends is that you can disagree with their views and not have it affect the friendship at all….in fact, in some ways, it seems to strengthen it!
and I had a long and very interesting conversation yesterday, and he made
this post
about it. He asks why we seem to remember pain when we forget the good parts.
I disagree with him completely on this. I feel that if we human being were not capable of forgetting pain...physical and mental...almost completely, we could not survive with our sanity intact. How can a woman have a second baby after one "normal" delivery has given her more pain than she has ever believed possible in her life? How would we survive losses..of material things that we are attached to, of people through death, of relationships, unless we forget the pain of it all?
In fact, I also feel that the process of rose-tinting our past also begins with our memories electing to retain only the pleasurable parts. We forget the indignities of our childhood, the bullying we probably underwent at school, the long wait for a letter to come from abroad..and only remember the carefree days, the nice grades we got, and the pleasure that long-awaited letter brought...and we become nostalgic and maudlin, saying, "Things are not the same any more". Most older people I know seem to look back and see only the peaks...the valleys are lost in the mists of forgetfulness.
So...PC...what do you say to my point of view? (Debate is something that defish takes...)
