What would happen if you lost your memories? Would you still be yourself? Surprisingly enough, this is not the first time I've pondered this question. When I was six years old, my grandma passed away after several years of struggling with Alzheimer's. Of course, at the time, this did not mean much to me. I actually thought that the disease was called Old Timers. I could not comprehend the gravity of the loss of memories. As I grew older and began to think about it more, I started to realize how horrible it would be to lose your memories. Memories are what make you you. Without them you could reinvent yourself as anything. For example, after a dramatic ferry on the spectacular and ground breaking show Grey's Anatomy, a woman has severe amnesia. Due to this, she decides to reinvent herself as Ava. By doing this, Ava could become anything she wanted to. She could be free and wild, while in her real life she was a boring housewife.
Despite all of this, at a certain point, the idea that she was faking something, that she wasn't truly being herself crept into her mind. This makes me think that some part of your personality is always with you. Even if you lose all of your memories some part of who you are will never leave you. Identity and memory are definitely strongly connected. I think that a lot of who a person is comes from the environment they were raised. Would Charles Manson still have been a crazy cult leader if his mother had never tried to sell him for a glass of beer? Probably not, but I do think some aspects of the personality would remain the same. But really, who knows. I just really hope I never have to find out if I am still me if I lose all my memories.
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