“You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget.” (p 144)
This quote expresses how as humans we often put negative emotions and memories above positive ones, and empathize them too much. We forget what kept us optimistic once and instead drown ourselves in our bad experiences. I found myself feeling this way many times. I recall an embarassing event or something traumatizing and it overshadows any other thoughts I'm having. But anything that makes me feel joyous lasts for a short while before returning to overthinking any blunders I've committed. Although sometimes it's a good thing we remember what we want to forget, as mistakes would be repeated if not for that. Genocides, for example are something terrifying, but forgetting them would be an insult to the memory of those who suffered through it. Teenagers want to forget many things in their younger years, but they remember and grow mature from them.
Everyone can sympathize with this quote as they've all been in the position. It's painful, but nessecary to remember those agonizing moments you suffered through. The only way to remedy this is try harder to pull up your better experiences in life and keep it balanced, so not to smother yourself in negativity. In retrospect bad things will always dictate how we think of ourselves. Repeating, “You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget," it is evident that this quote can be related to people of any race, culture and class.
