From the Beginning
Since the beginning of your life you’re always cataloguing always thinking and
remembering things. Putting every little detail into the back of your mind. But can
you do that your entire life? Are we able as humans to think and remember
everything that we do on a daily bases from the first breath of air to our last.
Memories are what make us who we are. The things we see, hear and do
are recorded daily. You burn your hand on a stove when your 5 years old, the day
comes when your 22 years old you will remember not to put your hand on the
stove when it’s on. Memories shape our character and the way we think every
day. In the Book Medicine river, Will is constantly thinking back to memorise of
his child hood. The days he spent without a father, the days that he didn’t have a
man to look up to in his life. Think how hard this must have been for him, not
having that father figure to teach you how to become a man. I’m sorry to say but
that isn’t something a women can do. Manhood is passed from man to man.
Teaching the skills that he needs to know to do things for himself and his future
family.
In the book I noticed that Will was constantly contradicting himself, he
almost could never make up his mind about things. I’m not saying this is because
his father wasn’t around but it also could have been a guidance thing. Not having
the memories of how his father would do this or the way his mother would do
things because she didn’t have a man in her life anymore. I personally think that
when a man and women split like that it sends a shockwave through everyone
involved. Shaking beliefs and playing with feelings, the human system of feelings
is very, very touchy and isn’t something to be handled lightly. People under go
tremendous amounts of stress daily and these things sometimes can and can’t be
changed. There is a thing called Trans Gene Memories, where you learn from your
ancestor’s generations before you. Maybe there was a drought in one year and
they knew what to do to live and you go through the same thing. People can get
gut feelings on how to react to things in their life all thanks to memories whether
they are your own or someone in your family tree.
When it comes down to the human brain we are most complex out of any
other living species. Are brains and nervous systems everything is top notch. That
doesn’t mean that things can malfunction. We can lose memories from an
accident or block out traumatic experiences things we just can’t handle
remembering. I think this may have happened to Will, choosing to remember
something’s and letting other things slip away into the depths of his brain never
to be recovered again. There is a movie called limitless where there is a new drug
that allows people to access the entire human brain and they are like a super
human. Faster senses increased processing speed, being able to use our whole
brain and function on all cylinders. If this was real I think the world would be an
extremely different place people could invent things that have never been
thought of simply because you don’t have the capability of thinking that up.
Imaginations would run wild and I’m not sure if it would be good or bad for the
world.
Several times in the book Will refers back to a day where he snuck into his
mom’s room and read the letters she received from his father. Seeing pictures
and finally being able to put a face to all the thoughts that he could barely hold
onto. Will seemed like a very passive person to me. He was always calm and
unsure about decisions. Whether to do something or not, almost like he was
always scared of the decision he was going make. This happens daily with every
person in the world. Some things are as simple as what you want to have for
dinner, other whether to propose to the love of your life. Things change every day
and not knowing the future is definitely a scary things. The things we do know will
always help us. Those “things” being our memories, it was raining yesterday after
a whole bunch or dark clouds blew in. Hmmmmmm there are dark clouds on the
horizon maybe we should get prepared for rain. Simple things like that can change
the scenario completely. Think on a larger level people on the south east coast get
hit by hurricanes yearly, if you move down there people remember what works
against a hurricane and what doesn’t. You’re not going to have a little wooden
shack of a house on the coast and expect it to withstand a hurricane. You’re going
to build something with design that can take storm winds, trees falling on it and
extreme amounts of water. People don’t just think of ways to survive and live on
the spot, they come from your memories and that is how you will survive.
When white people came to Canada it was just the natives. They had no
memory what so ever of white people so everything was new to them.
Generations passed and now seeing white people in Canada is nothing new to
them because they grew up with seeing white people. They are taught that it’s
not a threat because your parents can remember being taught that they aren’t a
threat so they teach you the same. Still things do not change overnight but always
remembering the past is a good thing it could save your life someday. I wouldn’t
be writing this essay in a single hour having over a thousand words if I couldn’t
remember how to spell or to type, operate a computer and know where the keys
are. Memory is an amazing thing and lots of times people take it for granted.
What happens if all the sudden you don’t remember to talk? How in the world are
you going to be able to talk or tell people you need something?
Memory will never stop recording, but you might not always remember.
Stop and think for a minute... can you remember when you were 8 months old?
What did you have for supper on a Tuesday night in the middle of September?
Exactly you can’t do it because how significant is your supper when you were 8
months old. It’s still in your memories you just can’t think of it because it isn’t
something important. Yet I can think almost 4 years ago when I turned thirteen in
Wisconsin I stubbed my toe hard enough on the stairs leading up the water slide
that it started to bleed. In a public pool blood is not something people want. I can
remember this because I was so mad that I couldn’t go on that water slide. It was
and still is a significant thing in my life. I’m sure while you’re sitting here thinking
why I’m possibly talking about stubbing my toe. You’re sitting there thinking back
to when you were little and how something happened to you.
With Will all he can remember about his dad are the stories his grandma would
tell or the from the letters he seen in his moms room and the pictures. He was a
cowboy, got up and left for the circuit making money and trying to find himself.
Meanwhile leaving his wife, sons, and family behind. He became an outcast and
unwanted among the people he loves so dearly. This is one of the hardest things
for people to go through. Such a dramatic change in their lives is something that
they will remember and possibly regret for their entire lives. These things can
damage even the strongest person. Everyone cries sometime, crying isn’t showing
that you are weak sometimes it’s because you’ve been too strong for too long.
People go through immense challenges everyday and without knowing how to
handle stress, and sadness, the daily challenges of life people would literally drop
like flies. No one would be able to react to things in the right way and the world
would be chaos. Memories keep us alive and as long as we can remember our
past we can handle anything the present decides to throw our way.