Dear Joe,

I remember Pericles - great poster.
There were so many who are
no longer with us - from Poirot to Belly to Suse.
But lets not down play who we currently have on
this forum. And that's what I've learned on
my contacts with the diverse people here.
My spirit is mostly uplifted by those encounters.
Yes, we've all encountered some grouches and
grumps, but mostly we've met some amazing souls -
with stories to share - such as yourself, Paul,
O Sung Wu, Hasbeen, Steele, David F., Saltpetre,
and many others. I won't name everyone in case
I leave somebody out and hurt someone's feelings.

I basically do enjoy enter-acting on this forum.
We don't always agree and of course there's the
usually misunderstandings and spats - but on the
whole - it is a great place to learn what others
think, and their stories. We all have stories to share.
And that's what makes it interesting.

I started thinking about this thread as an exploration of how we learn and what we learn and most importantly 'what' we retain.

For myself, some facts and experiences have continued to remain important to me, so, of these I have some retention - and if I dig, from a recalled fact as a 'start point', then more may come to mind.

I am poor with names - and with memory generally - but I recall the name of my French teacher in high school.
My memory seems very selective - maths, physics, smattering of some languages, some literature, work/skill and diversion related, and notable news and current affairs.

Maths/physics: S = ut + 1/2at-squared; g = 32fps-squared; F=ma; or 1 chain = 22 yards, 1 acre = 10 square chains, 640acres = 1 square mile, 1 hectare = 2.47 acres, or 10,000 sq metres;
inch, foot, yard, chain, furlong, mile; mm, km; ml, lt; gm, kg; oz, lb;
60 mph = 88 fps; C = 186,000 mps; 16oz = 1lb, 14lb = 1 stone; 20 oz = 1 pint;
20 grains/scruple, 60 grains/dram, 8 drams/oz, 14oz/lb, (troy weight, not avoirdupois); or 7000grains/lb Imperial;
1 atmosphere - 14.7 lb/inch-squared (or 33 feet of water - from scuba diving); sine = opposite/hypotenuse; pie = 3.142, circumference = 2x pie x radius, circle area = pie x r-squared.
And so on - mostly imperial.

I retain these and more, and can use many equations, but so many other non-functional/non-equation facts and events and experiences have long been lost - or require a lot of digging.

My conclusion is that I retain what seems most important to me - facts I continue to use in my life, and memories of most enjoyed or most challenging parts of my life.

My next conclusion is that my opinions - what I think about things - must depend heavily on what memories, conclusions and assumptions I have attained or gleaned through personal experience and evaluation.
(TBC):

Continued:

Therefore I can only be as accurate or biased or right/wrong as accords with my residual recollections/knowledge and embedded assumptions.
I am fallible.

Are we all not similarly limited - and similarly fallible?
(Perhaps particularly when exposed to volumes of material - variously accurate/erroneous/skewed - and since all our life journeys and experiences will have been quite different?)

Certainly my horizons have been both expanded and challenged through my participation on this Forum, and for that I am thankful - though some contributions occasionally appear to stretch the truth or may be spurious or designed only to invoke a reaction, but then it takes all kinds, and we all need some humour in our lives.

As an aside, have you noticed how often our thread discussions eventually become skewed to some tangential or unrelated subject/issue/matter of greater appeal to at least to some of the contributors?

More importantly, how can we detect who is fibbing? (Or, purposely misleading us?)
Trump?

Sometimes I think maybe I should just get a life.

Something else has just occurred to me.

I remember when I was first diagnosed with cancer
how devastated I felt. I needed to talk to someone
about it and I chose the forum. I felt safe here.
And the advice and support that I received helped
a great deal - also because it was anonymous.

However I remember how hurt I felt when one particular
poster blamed me for seeking sympathy ( I wasn't - I
just needed to talk to someone) and blamed me for being
so "personal". The same person criticized me when I
had to deal with my mum's dementia and later alzheimers.

Still that was just one poster - who I later realized
didn't really matter. Even from those experiences - there
were lessons to be learned.

cont'd ...

None of us are perfect. We all have our flaws.
However, through inter-action, we can learn
a great deal. As I stated earlier - we all
have stories to tell and share - no person is
an island - at least they have a choice - not to be.
Easier for some than others I guess.

Today - I don't open up so easily. And I tend to
hold back more. Perhaps age has something to do
with it as well. Trust does not come as easily as
it once did.

When we are kind to one-another life is so much better.

When we can shrug-off strenuous objections and disagreements we recover peace and objectivity so much faster - and feel better about ourselves.

When we are positive, we achieve more and are happier.

When we can laugh at ourselves we hit the jackpot.

Grudges, smudges, best quickly dismissed.

Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Women can be perplexing, adorable, admirable and unfathomable, and a great comfort.

Men? Yikes.

Cats are nice, but dogs are more fun.