Like An Elephant

So I just read, in a book, that memory loss is an absolutely crucial part of our brain’s activities. Pause for a huge sigh of relief. The point was made, and bizarrely, it parallels a conversation I had last week that I won’t bother to elaborate on, that at any one given moment our senses are privy to an absolute barrage of information: a constant flickering of images granted us through sight, coupled with the sounds of the world around, maybe The Shins new album playing in the background, the perceptions of taste, touch, and smell we so desire, and even, beyond all that, the constant workings of our sub-conscious, exerting its own pull on our attention. And so, the author argues, the brain has developed a complex system to allow for the filtering and eradicating of the majority of this information. Good eh? And no, it’s not of any importance that the author was writing about the effects of marijuana. In fact, I don’t even know why I bring that up. The point is that the memory loss I so particularly worry about, the everyday memory loss that we all experience to some degree or another, is a natural function, and more than that, a necessary function. So what if I do have a frighteningly awful memory and don't recall what we talked about yesterday? It's not a sign of my decreasing mental capacity. No. Far from it. I like to think of it more as a symbol of my own outstanding intellect. Bet you wish you could say the same...

I’m probably smarter than you.