It made me think of a time when I was a kid and was given (by Santa, I think) a train conductor's kit. I remember it having a little over the shoulder bag and some tickets and then the memory kind of gets fuzzy and I can't remember, but think it had something you could "punch" the tickets with and I also seem to remember how much fun I had giving people tickets and collecting them and punching them and thinking it was the awesomest present ever.
But the thing is, I can't be sure that I actually *had* a train conductor's kit or if I read it in a book or saw it in a movie or some combination of all of the above.
I'd ask my parents, but I'm sure it's not something they'd remember either so it kind of made me wonder; how would I know if my childhood little memories like playing with a conductor's kit are real or borrowed from somewhere.
Isn't that a weird thought?
9 comments:
Not at all! I have that happen often where I can't remember if something actually happened, or if I dreamed about it, or...
:)
I have that question about a number of my childhood memories. I have one in particular where I was about 2 years old, and I was wearing a pale pink snowsuit with white trim, and we were playing outside in the snow. But based on the fact that most kids don't remember anything that young, and I have no other memories from that age, I'm pretty sure I only have this "memory" because I've seen it so many times in the photo album. But it feels like a memory. Weird, eh?
How do you know you weren't created five seconds ago, along with all your memories and everything around you?
:o)
This is fascinating stuff... mirror neurons at work (look up mirror neurons, these are fascinating if neurology interests you at all.)
Also, i heard recently on NPR some talk of what they call "flash bulb memories" which are memories of important or significant events that become distorted over time due to our emotional investment in the memory in question. The brain is a fascinating place.
I have a memory in which i wasn't beaten relentlessly by parents who never wanted me in the first place.... but i just can't be sure about it...
Angella, sometimes I write and send entire emails and then find out the next day I dreamt it all!
Laura, I'm the same with some photos. Like, I'm SURE I can remember what was happening, but maybe. . . not?
Becauuuuuuuuuuuse Dominic! *brain explodes from thinking too hard*
Isa heard of mirror neurons Charles, they be cool, but I'ma going to look up the flash bulb memories now. Well if you weren't beaten by these people maybe it doesn't matter if it's real?
note: flashbulb memory may just be a buzz word, and may or may not have actually entered the lexicon of neurology fanatics around the world. For all i know, the person on NPR being interviewed may have recently coined the term herself, so i don't guarantee much information. still interesting though. and the memory of being beaten is almost as bad as having actually been beaten... :-( can you recommend a psychiatrist or at least a potent psychotropic drug regimen?
I find that watching a lot of really great tv shows and also reading lots of books allows me to never have to think about real life and therefore never have to think about memories. So try that?
Suggestion is amazing isn't it. I had a dream when I was young that we visited somebody's house (that I had not been to), and recalled it in detail when we next saw the people I had visited in the dream.
Weird.
I heard a french actor talking about working with children, and he remarked that children are far better at acting than adults - because they ARE the role, they are not pretending.
Hmmmmmmm. . . very odd!
And that's probably true about children actors :)
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