20190329.0430

The present month is drawing to a close, and I am glad that it is doing so. It's been a stressful month for me; there's been a lot going on, and while some of it has been quite good, not all of it has. I'd venture to say that most of it hasn't, in fact; I've not discussed all of it here, and I'm not going to do so in any detail, but the fact that I do not publicize is does not mean it never was. I know I live in the age of it, but "pics or it didn't happen" is not a truth for me.
It really shouldn't be for anyone. I am well aware that memory alone is suspect; it fades in time and with inattention, and it is always necessarily skewed by both emotional state at the time the memory is made and emotional state at the time the memory is called to mind. (And no, you are not remembering things devoid of emotion; you are always emoting, whether you are aware of it or not. You cannot help but do so. It is as taking in the smells of the things around you; you breathe the scent-bearing particles in, whether or not the information they convey presents itself to you overtly and in a way you must attend to. Or perhaps the taste of your own mouth is a better example.) I understand the impulse not to trust it utterly, therefore.
I also know, though, that the camera has its own biases. Its abilities are limited; there are things that are plain to eye that do not always show up well on film or in its digital counterpart. Indeed, in the latter, there are limits on the colors that can be presented that are not present, or are not as restrictive, as those in the world purportedly depicted. Similarly, there are limits on its resolution, though those may not be as relevant to most purposes. Too, the camera's field of vision is limited; the lens only takes in so many degrees of arc, fewer than do most human eyes. Much context for the focal event is lost thereby. And there is the matter of the choice of focus, as well, which is itself an exercise of judgment and therefore a matter of opinion--thus subject to all the concerns any expression of opinion is.
That a thing is recorded does not mean that it is so, only that it is recorded as being so, and this is true in any medium of recording. If memory is not to be trusted, only slightly more so are the other things used in place of memory. And that leaves aside the issue of falsification, which should not be left aside but exceeds in scope what I am prepared to treat here.
However such things may be, though, I remain glad that the month nears its end. I look forward to better in the next one.