You want the
truth?
Well, here it is. Eventually, you forget
it all.
First, you forget everything you learned – the dates of
wars and Pythagorean theorem. You especially forget everything
you didn’t really learn, but just memorized the night
before. You forget the names of all but one or two of your
favorite teachers; and eventually you forget those, too. You
forget your junior year class schedule and where you used to sit,
and your best friend’s home phone number and the lyrics to
that song you must have played a million times. And eventually,
but slowly, you forget your humiliations – even the ones
that seemed indelible just fade away. You forget who was cool and
who was not, who was pretty, smart, athletic, and not. Who went
to a good college, who threw the best parties, who had the most
friends – you forget all of them. Even the ones you said
you loved, and the ones you actually did. They’re the last
to go. And once you’ve forgotten enough, you love someone
else.