I, personally, preferred Craig's outlook. Everything, good and bad, that has happened to me has made me who I am today. The pain, the regret, the joy, the lessons learned and the comfort of those memories make me, me. Losing even one would change who I am. Which makes me consider a relative I have who has Alzheimer's. Losing memories is not just a fantasy for a story. It happens to people whether they want it to or not and they don't get to pick and choose which memories are forgotten. Knowing that, I cherish what I am blessed with, my memories and all they make of me. Even my worst memories have purpose. They taught me important lessons about how to live well, how to avoid things that will hurt me, how to love, how to forgive, how to move forward and how to keep myself and others safe. Though, I will admit that there are certain times when certain people could benefit from the doctor's power. I think they are limited, however, and memories should only be altered (if it were possible) when all other types of therapy have failed.
The "other" moral to the story was also beautiful, in my opinion. The idea that, regardless of our talents or abilities, we are all "good enough" to be loved by someone. This is a lesson I grew up without and didn't learn it until I was in my early thirties. I was blessed to meet and marry the person who taught me that lesson. There, again, is another memory I could not be "me" without. If I were to lose my husband I would be devastated, but if I lost my memories of him, I would, literally, lose all of who I am.
I'm curious about what memories the doctor removed from Chika(?). We know he looked at her memories with Craig, but why was she there for help? Did he remove the memory of "the doctor that could erase her memories" or did he remove the offending memory?
I, personally, preferred Craig's outlook. Everything, good and bad, that has happened to me has made me who I am today. The pain, the regret, the joy, the lessons learned and the comfort of those memories make me, me. Losing even one would change who I am. Which makes me consider a relative I have who has Alzheimer's. Losing memories is not just a fantasy for a story. It happens to people whether they want it to or not and they don't get to pick and choose which memories are forgotten. Knowing that, I cherish what I am blessed with, my memories and all they make of me. Even my worst memories have purpose. They taught me important lessons about how to live well, how to avoid things that will hurt me, how to love, how to forgive, how to move forward and how to keep myself and others safe. Though, I will admit that there are certain times when certain people could benefit from the doctor's power. I think they are limited, however, and memories should only be altered (if it were possible) when all other types of therapy have failed.
The "other" moral to the story was also beautiful, in my opinion. The idea that, regardless of our talents or abilities, we are all "good enough" to be loved by someone. This is a lesson I grew up without and didn't learn it until I was in my early thirties. I was blessed to meet and marry the person who taught me that lesson. There, again, is another memory I could not be "me" without. If I were to lose my husband I would be devastated, but if I lost my memories of him, I would, literally, lose all of who I am.
I'm curious about what memories the doctor removed from Chika(?). We know he looked at her memories with Craig, but why was she there for help? Did he remove the memory of "the doctor that could erase her memories" or did he remove the offending memory?