Memories are a part of life. We use our memory function to recall the memories we once had. Memory is a vital part of the learning process. Without it, learning would be impossible. If your brain recorded nothing from the past, you would be unable to learn anything new. All your experiences would be lost as soon as they ended, and each new situation would be totally unfamiliar. If memories hindered or helped people in their effort to learn from their past, it would really have to depend on the individual. Every person is different, so therefore, their memories are going to be different also.
The term memories, in Webster’s Dictionary, is defined as the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained, especially through associative mechanisms. The definition of memory is almost identical to the definition of memories, because they go together. If you didn’t have any memory, you would not have any memories.
If a person has nothing, but bad memories all during their childhood and early adolescence, the memories do nothing, but hinder over their effort to learn from their past. By having all of these bad memories as children, it does not help the child to grow and succeed in the future, because they will probably fail in trying to succeed. For example, if a child has been sexually abused, that child will live with those bad memories forever, and if the child doesn’t get any help, by the time the child is an adult, he or she will probably do the same thing that was done to them, to another child. The vicious cycle will just repeat.
If a person has a lot of good memories, they will most likely be able to learn from their past and succeed in the future, because they have a lot to look forward to. If he or she had a good childhood and he or she has children, he or she will try to make their children have a childhood like theirs. With all good memories there are always bad ones. For example, the death of a parent. For some children it is very hard for them to understand. Everyone goes through it so you learn to cope with the loss, but losing someone so close to you will take a lot of time to heal.
People have good and bad memories; the good memories are the ones that you can think about and laugh about and just feel good about, while the bad memories are the ones that you learn from and try to make good. As life goes on, you will forget the little things that you used to remember so clearly, until you cannot remember much of the event at all. Only the memories that have affected your life and are really close to your heart will live on forever. Memories are a learning device that you use to learn from the past and succeed in the future.
