In a previous blog, I started writing a profile of my aunt, "Tata Ulla". The more I thought about it, the more I realized how sketchy my memories were, a series of snapshots beginning when I was old enough to recognize her and continuing through adolescence and ending when she died.
I wondered what it might have been like if everyone she knew were gathered together and asked to recollect their "Julia moments".
Then imagine if my aunt were to magically appear and respond to what was being said, adding her memories and impressions of events. Conversations would have pinballed across the room creating an ever more detailed portrait, some honest and unfiltered recollections and a few tall tales thrown in for good measure. When this gathering had ended what picture would emerge? Would we be any closer to the real Tata Ulla?
This imagined scenario reminded me of the term "Rashomon Effect" which was coined based on the movie Rashomon (1950) by director Akira Kurosawa. Instead of applying the term to a single event witnessed by multiple witnesses, I'm taking a bit of poetic license in describing how individuals might remember a subject based on interactions over a lifetime.
How we arrive at perceiving, knowing, and responding to the world based on what our senses are processing and recording is a true marvel -- AND how and when we recall the immediate or distant past is uniquely our own, as are the memories of anyone else who may have reported the same experience. So, how are we to ever make sense of what is true?
I will leave it here for now--busy October. I will come back to recollections of my Tata Ulla. In the meantime, take a moment to think about some of the "Rashomon moments" in your life and how that moment was experienced by other "witnesses".
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