Selective Memory?

[Family Ties Forever!]

Why do some people discount something that happened, because they either don't remember it or don't remember it happening that way?

My mother is known for doing this. If she doesn't remember something that happened to someone or doesn't 'recall' it happening that way, it then just 'didn't' happen. Ugh.

I mentioned to my mother today on the phone about learning to type on a large print type-writer in elementary. My mother mentioned what my sister is learning in a computer class at her high school. That's when I mentioned learning to type in elementary. My mother said she doesn't remember that. She thinks I learned that in middle school or high school. I remember with certainty that it happened in elementary. I even remember a few of the other students' names who also learned to type on the type-writers. This was back in 1988. I also remember being teased endlessly in elementary because of my vision impairment.

[Retro4Life]

Some of it might just be "remembering wrong". The older you get the more information you have to process (not unlike a clogged hard drive on a computer, I guess.) Sometimes I think it's more convenient for people to remember things a certain way because remembering it the "right way" makes them confront something they don't want to. For instance, I know of people who say "Oh, I remember when we did this or that back in high school..." and it's usually some crazy, outrageous thing that makes it seem like they were fun loving and hip and I know for a fact it either never happened or didn't happen that way at all. Same thing for crushes; friends will say "Oh I remember when so and so had a crush on me...", and I'll think "Well, no that was you WANTING them to have a crush on you...in reality they barely noticed you. Saying "hi" in the hallway is not "love", you know?"

Memory is so subjective. I am sure I am guilty of not remembering things correctly, too. We all do it, for different reasons.