Funny how we rewrite history in our own minds. Whether it’s in business, or (most often) in our personal lives… I’ve come to believe it’s human nature to remember things differently then they actually were… it’s almost as if our memory is impacted by our wishes, desires, and biases.
I think this phenomenon occurs especially when there’s been a relationship change… perhaps a friendship has gone sour or maybe a bad circumstance has ended a business association…. or in many cases… maybe we’ve just lost contact with a once-close friend. I’ve seen it time-and-time again… it’s so easy to remember someone as having “always been a jerk”… when in fact… an unbiased look at history would prove otherwise. It also works the other way around… sometimes we glorify people in our past (this often happens when a close friend or family member dies) but if we could go back… we might see that this person wasn’t a perfect saint.
Some people know that I am a ferocious journal writer… and I have been for many years. One advantage of being a consistent journal writer is that you get to peer back into your history and read things as they actually were…. not as you remember. It’s extremely interesting to go back and read a journal entry… and remember exactly what you were doing 6 months ago… 1 year ago… or even 10 or 15 years ago. I have a great memory… but even so… it’s amazing how much reconciling there is between distant memories… and my own written word.
Speaking of rewriting history… Last night I saw the funniest clip I’ve seen in a long time. One of my favorite movies of all time is IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. I watch it every year on Christmas eve with my wife… and the ending is one of the great all-time FEEL GOOD endings of any movie… there’s no better time to watch it than on Christmas eve while playing the role of Santa Claus (if you know what I mean).
Last night… I saw an old Saturday Night Live clip (that I’d never seen before) featuring Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller, Jon Lovitz, and Phil Hartman. Back in the GOLDEN ERA of SNL (late eighties/early nineties) they did a skit REWRITING the end of It’s a Wonderful Life… and they succeeded in turning what is perhaps happiest movie ending of all time… to perhaps the most hilarious. Enjoy…