Memories...light the corner of my mind...or do they?

I recently watched a fascinating episode of 60 minutes. It was an interview with a man who was doing reserach on memory. The long and the short of it was - he THINKS he's found a way to make bad memories go away...or at least become more hazy. I won't go into all of the tests he conducted on lab rats - but even I must admit they were pretty interesting. But of course....it begs the question.....should we reeeeeeeeeeally go fooling around with that stuff? There are many things in my past that I regret. Things I did - things I said...that I would love to have no memory of.....but, does that mean I SHOULD go erasing my memory?? I think I sidestepped some huge pitfalls because I landed in some potholes. If I had wiped my proverbial hard drive...who knows where I 'd be.

Sort of how you BEG God to let you marry your 11th grade boyfriend because you just KNOW he's the right one for you forever?? Then, you see him 10 years later (still working in the movie store) and you just want to hit your knees and thank God that He didn't allow you to marry him?

But who am I to say that large, horrible memories shouldn't be erased. Rape, murder, witnessing hainous crimes....if Madeline saw someone get brutaly beaten or if something horrible happened to her....I wouldn't want that isolated incident to form who she was or what she thought about a certain gender or race. If I could erase it, or make it a little more fuzzy....I would be tempted to.

When I studied Philosophy in College, one of my favourite people to study was Immanuel Kant and his catagorical imperative. Basically.... can the actions I take be applied to everyond? i.e. It's okay for ME to speed because I'm late......Well, if it's ok for you, then it must be ok for everyone else. I.e. Mass Chaos.

If I decide that people who have been through horrible trauma should have access to this procedure - then who decides what is trauma?

2 words - slippery slope.