Sunday, November 25, 2007

Flashbacks and short circuits

Yesterday there was a mild earthquake here. I didn't feel it, being sound asleep at that early morning hour. But both my husband and one of my sons and did feel it. When they mentioned it this morning, my mind played a trick on me: it flashed me back to a piece of music from long ago; with the lyrics "I feel the earth move under my feet". (Carole King) Now that song has NOTHING to do with earthquakes, but my mind clicks over to there on hearing the words "earth shake". But I knew that the song was irrelevant to the topic being discussed, and I didn't mention it.
But for my daughter Ricki, time and time again her brain clicks open to a certain file, based on a phrase, a word….and out spills the song or information that is there. This information may be totally wrong, and often is even inappropriate. She will be singing away a song, unaware that it is not applicable to the situation, or even that no one wanted to hear this song. She seems content that she "knows" the answer, even if it isn't, really. I usually know what is going on: after all, I help her study and archive a lot of information. However, others (especially strangers), do not. In these cases I feel that it is not enough to point out the mistake. Later, in private, the point needs to be made about THINKING about "Is this appropriate?" as well. I think that this point will need to be made many many times before it sinks in; so I need to start now.

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