You Must Remember This

I was reading about how Alberto Gonzales has no recollection of discussions about firing those U.S. attorneys, and thinking about how Scooter Libby couldn’t remember outing Valerie Plame, and reflecting on how Jeffrey Skilling didn’t have memories of any number of shady deals he pulled at Enron, and I started to get all outraged by how these guys and others get so forgetful when it comes to alleged misdeeds.

I was feeling pretty huffy and going on about how convenient it is for them to have these lapses and comparing my own steel trap memory for even the most trivial events in my own life.

But then I was talking to a number of people on Saturday night about this or that event we supposedly shared at some time and it became apparent that there are all sorts of holes in my own accounting of my life.

I couldn’t even remember attending the wedding of a mutual friend and it was only after being referred to photographic evidence that I had to assent to being there. Granted, it took place more than twenty years ago and it’s more than likely that I wasn’t all there (at least at the reception), but still. It’s sort of scary to think of all the things I did or didn’t do that are lost to my mind now.

I’ve heard tell that doctors didn’t use to use anesthetics on infants when they performed surgery on them; the rationale was that since the babies would have no recollection whatsoever of any pain they might experience, that, for all extents and purposes, no pain was experienced.

By this reasoning, if events in my past are entirely lost to me, then it makes no difference whether they were positive or negative; consequently, since most of what goes on in my life will eventually be wiped from the hard disk, it doesn’t really matter what happens.

Or maybe I should just write happy thoughts here.