{"id":97,"date":"2025-01-26T12:17:37","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T12:17:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/surplustorequirements.org.uk\/strblog\/?p=97"},"modified":"2025-01-26T12:17:37","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T12:17:37","slug":"remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/surplustorequirements.org.uk\/strblog\/2025\/01\/26\/remember\/","title":{"rendered":"Remember"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I must remember to tell you there\u2019s a lot of remembering in the book. Remembering is a big part of human existence, both individual and communal. Forgetting is also in the mix too. In fact the thing to remember about remembering is forgetting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans forget stuff. It has become a major individual concern in our society, where we imagine ageing includes a lot of forgetting. We name it dementia and fear becoming the one in three who\u2019s life will be marked by it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet we all forget and it isn\u2019t a capital crime. Politicians forget to record their expenses, parents forget to care adequately for their children, cooks forget ingredients and most of all key parts of history get forgotten. Our responses to this kind of forgetting will depend on how it effects us. Most of all we don\u2019t want the kind of forgetting that has mothers forgetting how make their legendary roast (according to one contested advertisement).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ageing is a fundamental part of life and is a major theme in the book with a main character being a 79 year old woman. Earlier comments on a draft had her as \u2018too able\u2019 and \u2018we expect her to be more like xxx (a character in the book who we learn has dementia). Not every older person has dementia. Not every younger person doesn\u2019t have dementia. Whilst it may be scary it isn\u2019t a capital crime. We don\u2019t have to kill everyone who has dementia, or leave them in a social care system that is under resourced, or\u2026. (please fill in the gap).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not everyone lives to an old age. There are plenty of stories on the news everyday of people who\u2019s lives have been cut short. But ageing rarely features in fiction (except the murder kind). Few stories are told of older women who walk hundreds of miles, but it is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n