Memory

Gee, the Windows 10 update is okay when it doesn't crash and destroy your computer. It even fixed the wifi connection problem, connecting now normally to Starbucks or Biznet. Cool, for the time being. 

This morning when I left the house, I locked the door behind me, carried my various gear to my motorbike, but then noted that the keys in my hand did not appear to be the keys to the motorbike? I stood there staring at them for the longest time. How could I have locked the door if this was not my set of keys? And how could I go anywhere without the motorbike key? And just what had happened to the motorbike key? 

Well, of course, the solution was simple, as is the case in most of these situations. I had picked up my extra set of house keys rather than my usual set which has the house key and the motorbike key. Silly me. But it's a pretty common form of cognitive dysfunction. 

On the other hand, I notice lately that my memory, impaired as it is, seems still in better shape than many, to judge from Facebook comments on news stories; for, regarding the present trouble in Syria and the decision whether or not to conduct a military strike, I have read any number of comments to the effect that "we are in this situation because Obama did nothing when Assad used poison gas". 

Well, now, let's roll back the calendar, folks--reset the dial on the time machine--or simply re-read recent history. When Assad used chemical weapons, Obama at once determined to conduct an effective punitive strike. He said so on national TV. The Republican congress immediately threw a fit and insisted that he would need congressional approval for any such strike (having no intention, of course, of granting such approval). While this process went forward, Putin stepped in to offer a deal wherein Russia would remove all chemical weapons from Syria. So, you see, it's not that Obama did nothing. It's that the congress did nothing (other than obstruct, as usual). 

So, among other things, this all makes me feel better about the condition of my own memory; for, as compromised as it is, it is still apparently in better shape than the memory possessed by many so-called 'healthy' people.