Question 4 - No Memory = Who Am I Again?

This is my favorite. If I had any talent in biology I would be studying the brain like crazy, because the concept of memory blows my mind.

Here's a question I throw back at you, before I answer this one:

(It's great when I need something paradoxical to think about!)

Who would you be if you traded your mind with someone else's? Would you be yourself with someone else's memories? Or would the other person be living through your body?

Anyway...

No, you would not be you without your past. Memories are what make up the human mind. They're what make up everything. Because if you can't remember it, did it ever really happen?

A part of the Alzheimer's passasge that really wrenched my heart was when the author was talking about her aunt asking her mother if she remembered her, and her mother sadly shaking her head. Think about all the times shared between siblings, inside jokes, stories, adventures--and here is that sibling telling you she doesn't remember you. She doens't remember anything. It just does something to the credibility, I think. It makes you realize how intangible the past is.

Because your past, who you are, is all because of what you remember. It's not the facts that matter--anyone can tell me my name is Allison Taylor. But how many people can tell me that when I go skiing I do it becuase of the thrill, and when I think about skiing I feel that exciting twist in my stomach? Or when I play piano my hands just lazily fall on the keys like no big deal and when I mimic it on the table, my fingers fall in the same exact places as on a keyboard?

Mannerisms, facial expressions, reactions, they're all due to previous memories. You can tell me my name but that means nothing without the memory behind it.