REMEMBERING WRONG

So I was sitting there in my warm summer-green park, thinking about all the people I love. Only I couldn't quite remember what they looked like.

Well, I could those I see on a regular basis. But so many of the others. Old school mates...army buddies... long ago girlfriends ...faraway cousins...even my beloved parents now long gone. They have reluctantly become fuzzy photographs in my mind, hard as I struggle to bring them back into full focus.

It's the human condition, isn't it. To watch some of the precious sands of our life slip through the fingers of our memory. And not only of those we know and love, also those who stand higher and farther in our lives.

And yet, even when we do remember these special ones, we often have this habit of remembering wrong! So many times, so many people, so many voices. Moses and Jesus, Lincoln and Churchill, Shakespeare and Hemingway. We didn't know them personally, but we thought we knew them profoundly. How often we merely remember them incorrectly.

Countries are like this too. America is more than the image of a warrior like George Patton, Germany more than a fanatical leader like Adolf Hitler, and China more than their marching masses at the last Olympics. But still some of us remember entire countries this shortcut way. Likewise entire companies and cities and political parties. For example, McDonald's is more than Ronald, New York is more than Broadway, and Democrats are more than just the ones who hate Republicans.

Shortcuts. That's what the mind and memory tend to take. Especially when it's been a long time since the real thing. And yet, we are fully equipped to deal with the real thing. Eyes and ears, intellect and will. As human beings, we've got what it takes. Now will we take what we've got....? Sitting here in the park, it's clear this is not simply a question. It's an imperative.