As lifetime educators the book Three Cups of Tea was received with great appreciation at our home. Building schools for children in remote villages of Afghanistan and Pakistan is immediately welcomed by teachers and Americans as a whole. But then, the CBS show “60 Minutes” debunked the story all together. It seems the heroic claims of the author were fraudulent. Why was the account believed without question? Perhaps it is the power of Oprah-esque interviews tugging on the emotional heart strings of a viewing audience. Another reason could be our tendency as Americans to be sensitive to others’ suffering, responding immediately with our sympathy and money. The larger issue seems to be that fact-checking tends to occur after rather than before publication. This trend horrifies acclaimed memoirists like Mary Karr. Interviewed on National Public Radio, author of The Liar’s Club, explains that she spends time with the people about whose history she writes relying on their collective memories. Karr’s method has its own kind of rigor.[1]
But then I read a New York Times review of a book entitled Moonwalking with Einstein. Joshua Foer has become something of a memory phenom; after a year of memory training he has gone from average guy to finalist in U.S.A.’s memory championship. While most of us are forgetting where we put our keys, Mr. Foer is storing complete book sections and poems in his brain. What captures my attention most, however, is Mr. Foer’s concern about what he calls the externalization of memory. He argues that while humans used to use their brains for memory storage—think names like Homer and Aristotle—now we depend on computers and the internet to recall data. Mr. Foer says memory work taught him to pay attention to the world around him. More important, he learned [Quote] “The role of memory in our culture erodes at a faster pace than ever before; we need to cultivate our ability to remember. Our memories make us who we are. They are the seat of our values and source of our character.”[2] [End quote]
The connection to memory and a person’s character is a crucial point. We humans tend to rationalize our thoughts and actions; so it is no surprise that memoirists may embellish their stories. Not only is our character displayed by how we remember but what we remember. While we want to be sensitive to peoples’ heart-wrenching tales, we should probably cross-check the sources before we believe everything we hear. And perhaps we should spend more time concerned about developing our internal hard drive—our minds. The next time we think about what to put in our brains, maybe we should pick up a book before we turn on our computer.
For Moody Radio, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found. To be broadcast on Moody Radio, November, 2011.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2011/04/19/135541513/tea-debacle-reflects-the-murky-waters-of-memoirs?sc=emaf
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/books/08book.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&emc=eta1