I've chosen the below from Galenkp's weekend prompts to give some thought to, if you'd like to join me in a speculative game of 'What if...?' you can find the prompt link here.
What if you could erase memories?
If you had the power to erase the memory of three people, either alive now or from history, who would you choose and why? What impact do you feel it would have?
1. Nick Carter - Backstreet's BACK, Alright? (Yea, try getting that out of your head now).
This is really the obvious choice, right? As a young person in the 90s, you know that I was singing along to every 'Backstreet Boys' album, fancying myself pretty cool. Now, the music you can forgive. The times were all about poppy groups (blame The Spice Girls), and who remembers Hanson?
But, why seek to eliminate his memory? To destroy his haircut. A quick google has referred to this as the mushroom cut; where you have a parted fringe thing going on. Yes, I sang along to the songs. And yes, I think I was somewhat inspired by this boy-band bob. Looking back, I understand now why I didn't have a lot of friends. Could it have been my hairdo making everyone run in the opposite direction? (Probably my vocal ability didn't help).
2. Charles Dickens - The Curse of 'A Tale of Two Cities'.
Let me offer you one of my favourite lines of literature, the opening of Dickens' most famous work:
Quote“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
I think I've read those words 100s of times, and they often have sprung up in my mind, triggered by words others would say. I remember this is how I also learned the word 'epoch'. Cool fact, huh? However - one of my greatest delights is also one of my greatest failures.
You see, I've sat down to read the novel, 'A Tale of Two Cities' many times. I get inspired by those first few lines of the novel, and then... I think I must have started this novel at least twenty times, occasionally going a few chapters deep, but then, I'm always thwarted by the density of the text. It also sparks one of my least glorious moments of school. I had to read this novel in Year 11, which was followed by a quiz. It was the only quiz I ever failed at throughout my entire schooling. I still remember one of the questions was about something red, or a handkerchief - I dunno, but the question haunts my mind, and I had to try and make up something on the spot, and then the teacher gave me the inquisition about not reading the novel - and I lied and said I just forgot. And now, as an English/Literature teacher, I give the same inquisition to students who don't read novels and fail quizzes and... I hate Charles Dickens, perhaps the source of all my problems in life.
And hey - by making Dickens disappear, we're not losing anything. Afterall, we still have Les Miserables to give us an insight into the French Revolution. Surely that's all the history we need!
And finally, 3. Mike Fleiss - the guy no one's ever heard of.
If you havn't heard of Mike Fleiss, I wouldn't be surprised. In fact, I only found out he existed like 3 minutes ago. Tell you what I hate though, having to sit through crap like 'The Bachelor' or 'The Bachelorette'. I am, unfortunately, in a position where I have to confess to seeing more of this show than anyone should own up to having sat through.
Turns out, Mike Fleiss is the creator of the show! I guess what I'm saying is, it is this guy which has single handedly robbed me of hours and hours of my wife. Every week my wife would say, 'It's just an hour, just watch it', and I would find myself dutifully looking at the screen thinking how ridiculous scripted it all was. Sometimes I got caught up in the drama, but mostly, I was bored stupid. It seems the only person committing to love in all of this, was me!
(And, perhaps there are lots of stupid people, turns out this guy is worth $140,000,000 bucks! That's a lot of 0s; can't help but dislike him all the more!)
Of course, assuming the premise of the #weekend-engagement prompt was to destroy all memory of these three, then I only have one thing left to say:
You are welcome!