Memory

So here's some irony.

A few weeks back, I had two experiences in quick succession which pointed out to me the importance of memory -- and specifically the times when memory fails us.

I decided to blog about them, but decided to do it "later" so I just created a post for sometime in the future, and left myself a note. Here it is:

The Prestige and the Good Samaritan

OK, so now it's time for that post to get written and ... you guessed it ... I don't remember (exactly) what I was going to write.

So, dredging my memory, what was I going to write? Well, the first note is about The Prestige, which is a movie with twists and mystery. I own it, and it's fun to see multiple times partly because of things you remember on subsequent viewings which are set up early in the film, but not really noticed until you see it again. This means that part of the fun is having memory. Yet there are so many things going on, so many clues, so many interactions, that it's hard to remember everything, so some of the fun is also seeing things that you don't remember having seen before. [I find it ironic, again, that I forgot to put The Prestige in my Movie Micro-Reviews from that viewing.]

So what about The Good Samaritan? As I start writing I'm less certain. Here's what I'm sure of. Pastor Siri preached on The Good Samaritan, but as is typical, before she preached the lesson was read. As I heard the lesson, I remember thinking "Hey, I just thought of another meaning I don't think I've ever heard preached." And then, sure enough, Siri preached on that meaning. So, had I really never heard that interpretation, or did I just not remember it? And now that I am trying to remember it, why can't I?

Memory is a strange thing.

And now that I'm writing about it, I think I do remember. It has to do with looking at ourselves as the injured person, and thinking about who would be a "Samaritan" to us. And can we learn to accept help from someone who would be as objectionable to us as a Samaritan would have been to a Jewish person of the day? Yes, that was it. I just needed to jog my memory. It was a very good sermon.

I remember now.


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