I sometimes wish I could lose some of my
negative memories. My memories are not
any more negative than most people’s, but they seem to get stuck in my mind. If I have been slightly embarrassed or hurt,
the memory sticks in my mind and jumps out at me for weeks, or sometimes even
years. I remember slightly misusing a
word when I was in high-school, and one of my friends laughing at me for making
the mistake. It is still a little
painful to remember the scene and the embarrassment I felt, even though I know
it was an extremely minor incident. In
the future, could a doctor cut out the painful memory? If he did, would I still be the same person?
You don’t often hear people bemoaning the
state of their mind, and wishing they had a different one: “I’m so
neurotic. I’m thinking of having a
little surgery done on my brain – You know, a little off the frontal lobe.” Or,
“I’m such a horrible racist. What I would
give for a better mind!”
People don’t have these thoughts, probably
because they seem illogical. If a mind
wishes to be a different mind, then it is wishing for self-destruction.
But people frequently do wish for a
different body, or improvements to various body parts: “I’ll just have a little
surgery on my nose.” Or, “What I would
give to have been born with straight hair!”
Is the different attitude we take to body
and mind justifiable? When I have
finished inventing my memory erasing machine, would you have certain memories
erased? Maybe I have already invented
it, but have forgotten. Maybe I have
already used it on you, but you have forgotten.
Do you want those deleted memories back?
Vocabulary:
neurotic – mentally ill
the frontal lobe (of the brain) – one part
of the brain
“What I would give...” – I would give a lot...;
I really wish...
Illogical – lacking sense or clear, sound
reasoning
self-destruction – the action of causing so
much harm to yourself that you die or no longer exist
justifiable – able to be shown to be right
or reasonable
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