Memory, memories, memorable

Sometimes it’s useful to consult a dictionary just to refresh one’s thoughts: was going to say memory, but that would really be too much in light of what follows.

My favorite go-to dictionary is an old Webster’s dating back to 1966. Side thought: I bet that 10% of the words contained therein are obsolete now, if not more and that the new one would probably contain another 10% - words brought about by the changes in technology and time.

I digress.

In that version “memory” the noun means “1.the power, act, or process of remembering. 2. The total of what one remembers 3. A person, thing, happening, or act remembered…” But it’s the one under these that I like most: “memory refers specifically to the ability or power for retaining or reviving in the mind past thoughts, images, ideas, etc.”

I do not disagree with those who say that animals can remember, but I do believe that the human being alone possesses the capacity to remember on a large scale: to remember not only a pavlovian-type response, but to also remember the why behind the response or memory; to remember things or persons in context; to be able to put words to memories; to write about them many years after their advent; to remember indifferently whether good, bad or neutral (although we do fortunately bury the bad, letting the good stay closer to the surface).

It was George Eliot who said: “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.”

I have the memories, his friends have the memories (one of whom called today, which is what set off this train of thought): he would have been 79 today. I am now older than he when he died, yet the memories make what we had memorable.

“You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”
― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

And that it does: here’s to you Ralf!