When memory plays tricks on you, enjoy them

"You did it just because your friend asked you to? Would you jump into a well if he asked?" Some variation of those questions has been asked by parents through history..Two things happened all those years ago following my parents’ sarcasm, which they hoped would ensure I developed my own mind and learnt to decide on my own..One, my friend actually asked me to jump into a well. And two, I did..Well, actually more than two things happened. My friend panicked and ran to my parents and they ran to other parents who ran to... well, I can’t remember. But the result of all that panicking and running was that I was fished out. And both my friend and my parents began to see me with a new respect. My parents were too relieved to shout at me, while my friend and potential friends never gave me such dangerous assignments again..The memories came flooding back when that friend who, like Little Tommy Thin (or Johnny Flynn, depending on which version you followed) in the nursery rhyme (but using a different technique) put me in the well, sent me a warm message on something he called World Friendship Day. He had been out of my life for years..Now he hoped I was well, and hoping that I would have the best of luck. I was touched. I thanked him in reply and informed him that if there was any luck left over, he could keep some himself..And then he got nostalgic. "Remember when I asked you to jump into a puddle, and you did?".Puddle? Puddle?.Memory plays strange tricks on you. I had lived for many decades thinking I had jumped into a well on my friend’s say-so, and to teach my parents some kind of a lesson, but all along it had only been a puddle. Next I might discover that I did not actually fly through the air to rescue students trapped in a bus, but merely waved at it as it went by on another day I was late for school..Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad (or distorted) memory. I don’t know who said that first, but I am saying it here. Maybe such things as the good old days exist in our memory only because our memory re-views the events of long ago..When you are young you decide to be a great athlete in the future. Some years later you tell yourself you were a great athlete when young. Convenient memory is the bridge that connects the two..It might be a good idea to avoid friends from school after a certain age..Read more. Decoding the gurgles in our mind Giving an arm and a leg to satisfy sharks Measuring out life with morning coffee mugs