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Can you be sure your memories are accurate?

7/9/2015

10 Comments

 
Could you remember what happened 90 years ago? Or 60? Or what happened 30 years before?

Well, 70 years ago, Britain marked the end of WW11 with street parties up and down the country.

PictureHrh Princess Elizabeth in 1947
Now a giant street party is being planned to mark the Queen's 90th birthday.

The Mall in London will be lined with picnic tables for 10,000 guests to enjoy a hamper-style lunch on Sunday 12 June next year. 7,500 tickets will be allocated guests from the Queen's charities and organizations, 1,000 will be made available for public ballot, and 1,500 will be provided to the event's official partners. Members of the public will also be able to share in the festivities at live sites situated in Green Park and St James's Park. 
Source BBC. 


PictureStreet party in Bristol 1947
My husband remembers a being at street party in London. People set up tables and chairs in the center of the street and supplied their own food. Because rations were in short supply some mixed butter with evaporated milk to make it spread further on sandwiches.

He probably knew they were celebrating the end of the war called VE Day. Heck, he used to play on bomb sites close to where he lived. Apparently the street party marked the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.

So street parties have a long history in London. But memories of those people who are still alive are hazy. At least photos show the reality.

Just how accurate are people's memories? 

PictureI'm watching Virginia, 7 yrs of age, apply make-up.
Recently, a revelation shattered my belief in my own recall. I contacted my younger sister about a teacher we both loved back in the early 1950s. I had such fond memories of Mr. Giddings. He was the only teacher I could remember from primary school.

Blow me—knock me down with a feather—she told me I'd never been in Mr. Giddings' class. How could I have remembered him so well?

She had loved him. Lacking a father figure, she'd slipped a few times and called him Daddy. He firmly corrected the title. Perhaps she'd talked about him so much that I adopted him. I can even see him in my mind's eye—a short man with a kind face, standing beside the blackboard.

It makes me wonder how many of my memories are accurate. What's the use of writing a memoir if my information is incorrect? My internal chuckle might reach you through my words. I should write a disclaimer: All memories are my own and not to be confused with reality.

Maybe we could set up a group on Facebook. Let's call it, 'Correct Me If I'm Wrong.' We could share stories and others could chip in with their version of events.

You'd better check a particular memory of yours. It may not be precise.

Do you recall of events from long ago clearly, or are they hazy?


10 Comments
Virginia link
7/8/2015 07:20:53 pm

I think you should have a Correct Me If I'm Wrong facebook. It would be a load of fun. I always think it's strange that people have different memories of the same event. I think everyone remembers the facts I remember, but they remember other things that I have completely forgotten. Different events are important to different people, is all.

Reply
Jacqui Malpass link
7/8/2015 07:51:35 pm

This is quite funny. I wrote a memoir and gave it to my mum to read, she and I had quite a giggle about a particular story, but as you say her memory was very different to mine. It proved to be a fascinating discussion, where we roared with laughter. It wasn't funny at the time.

I find that looking at photos evokes memories, which are always different to the others in the same picture.

It's like that saying there is your truth, their truth and then the absolute truth.

Reply
Alana link
7/8/2015 08:24:39 pm

Francene, you've hit on something! We need a Facebook Correct me If I'm Wrong group. I've wondered about some of my memories (and how my best friend has a different recollection of them). My personal recollections tend to be hazy, with holes in them. I think my active imagination tries to fill in the holes. Any relation to reality is purely coincidental.

Reply
Roy A. Ackerman @Cerebrations.biz link
7/8/2015 08:52:39 pm

ah, the reason why "eyewitness" accounts have been found to be wanting. Because the eye sees what it did not witness.

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Jenn link
7/8/2015 09:22:51 pm

The reason we have different memories is two fold. We see everything from a different perspective, and the brain only holds on to parts of a memory and fills in blanks as it plays them back.

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Amar Naik link
7/9/2015 04:46:31 am

i find it tough to recall the details of the past.

Reply
K.Lee Banks link
7/9/2015 05:33:54 am

I like your ideas about the disclaimer and FB group!

I've lost a lot of memories because of a severe, nearly fatal head injury back in 1985.

Reply
janet link
7/10/2015 01:06:19 am

Great. My husband was saying the same thing the other day. He has a lot of stories from when he was young and was questioning whether a fight with a bully really happened or was from something he might have read or seen on television. It is easy to doubt as we grow older.

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Lisa link
7/12/2015 03:36:34 am

Really interesting piece...our memories and our realities are all different from each other's. I'm always surprised how differently my mother and I remember the same events.

Reply
Beth link
7/12/2015 03:37:19 am

I have pretty vivid memories of most of my past...it's the last 5 minutes of where did I put my keys and phone that are not so great :) Thanks for sharing via #MidLifeBloggers.

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    Francene Stanley
    From England, I use news items in my novels which you can see below, all linked to an Amazon near you.

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