Have you ever noticed how nothing is how we remember it? I've recited the same movie quote for years, and then whenever I finally listened to the clip it was completely different from how I remembered it.
It wasn't as dramatic or as mean. The actor did not stress the quote as much as I had been stressing it. My sister did that with a George Foreman quote. I also did it with a Departed quote.
Does that mean things are probably not as good or as bad as we actually thought? What about that feeling of love, like when you were on a beach eating some sandwiches with someone you liked. Was it really that good? Were the mountains really that holy? Was the feeling of the concrete jungle in Los Angeles really that isolating? Were my discoveries about religion really that jarring? The answer is most likely no. It's almost like the thoughts about the past evolved into a proofpoint to a broad idea.
And that makes me wonder about the present? Do we do the same thing? Are we just looking for proofpoint to our ideas everytime something is difficult/easy or depressing/joyful?
A quote means different things to different people, because we bring different experiences to it, and hear it differently. Thus you emphasize words or hear words differently that they were spoke. Everyone does this, usually without realizing it.
ReplyDeleteWell thought essay, Jimmy