[TMIC] On Forgetfulness
Robert and Marabeth (74541.2151(AT)compuserve.com)
Wed, 9 Jun 1999 08:59:09 -0400
It's happening to all of us, whether ill or not. I myself have noticed
that if I don't leave around little 'reminders', I usually forget what I
was going to do next. And I've also started taking notes on almost
everything. If I don't take a precise and complete list to the grocery
store, I forget all those last minute items I didn't jot down.
Same thing when I go out to do chores. Gotta have that list. And it's
been years since I was able to sit down in a comfortable chair and read
more than 20 pages of a good book. I have near me a whole stack of
unfinished books. Soon, I keep telling myself. As with magazines. I'll
read one or two articles, and then something else catches my eye. When
meeting a new person and hearing his-her name, if I don't repeat it to
myself over and over again, ten minutes later, I won't remember it.
Embarrasing sometimes. But no, I don't believe we are all suffering from
a mass epidemic of Alzheimer's. I think it's because our poor overtaxed
brains, still eons behind our culture in evolutionary terms, cannot cope
with the constant barrage of information being bombarded upon us. And from
all directions, visual, audial, even olfactory. Massive sensory overload.
And getting worse too.....!!! Bob in Houston is on the right track. I
no longer laugh at those folks I've seen with a notepad and pencil hanging
from their neck, though I haven't gone that far myself. I only have pads
and pens in every room, and of course, next to the telephones, and also in
my van, right next to a big city map. I could go on and on, but I already
forgot what I was gonna e-write next.........:>) :>) :>)
And that's my 2¢ worth.
Cheers, Bobby Jim in hazy hot and humid Memphis, another scorcher
predicted for today, geeez you out there in the west coast, complaining
about the cold. Put on another sweater.