On the manipulation of memory

The shifting ground of recall, identity, and what we choose to keep

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There are those memories we all have that, when summoned, quietly produce that tightening in the throat. The shifting of gazes, the whole-body response, the sudden urge to forget and think about anything else just to calm your nervous system.

This week, the memory that invokes that type of response came flooding back to me. It’s one of those “life experiences” that feels like it happened to someone else, like I am remembering a TV program (or rather a horror) and that ultimately the person that I am remembering isn’t the person I am now.