why is memory so important?

for my very first blogging experience, i'm going to ponder the importance of memory...here's a little ditty to get us started:during my senior year of highschool, i took AP psychology, and one of our first assignments was to write about our very first memory. i was really stoked because i totally knew my first memory - i didn't even have to try and remember it. i just knew. it was me, trapped in my backyard behind a huge mound of snow, crying and waiting for someone to come save me. i was only wearing sweats and some awesome moonboots, but still, i was cold. then i saw my dad with the video camera, looking for me out in the yard, and i popped up and yelled at him for not saving me in time. i was going to die in the snow. awesome first memory, right?well, later that day, when i was telling my parents about how awesome i was for remembering their potential child-neglect/abuse, i was told that there was no way i remembered that day. i was 2 and a half years old. but i had a distinct memory of that day, and i was sure it had happened - like, 99% positive. then my dad showed me the home video of me, stranded in the snow bank in our back yard, yelling at him for not coming to save me. it was in december of 1989, and i was, indeed, like 2 and a half years old. so....it was a faux memory. alot of other kids in my class had the same experience of creating a first memory based on something they had seen or heard about themselves growing up - which made me realize that memories are not concrete. it also made me realize that having to memorize the prelude to romeo and juliet as a freshman in highschool was a waste of my time...and then i found out, by actually trying to say it all, that i really did remember most of it. WEIRD! i think memory is subjective, and it obviously changes everyday because we add new memories everyday. i wonder how our brains decide which memories to throw out in order to make room for new ones? because if our memories are so important, why can't we remember anything and everything? why do i still know all of the words to every *nsync song, but i can't remember half of what i learned last semester? and what's up with selective memory? how did that work with oral storytellers? hmmm...i think i'm gonna go take some ginko biloba...if i can remember to.