Memoirs: Their importance and dangers

 To be honest, I already have a pretty solid idea of what I'm doing my memoir about. (I want it to be a surprise, so don't ask about it!) But I've always been telling stories to myself since I was little, so I suppose it comes naturally to me to share my stories with others. I don't really know why I do it, but I thinks that it's because even from a young age, I've understood the fast speed of time and mortality. To combat that, I've worked towards recording stories because stories can last much longer than ourselves. That's the purpose of memoirs in general; to try to capture a moment in time before it fades away, to preserve a memory before it slips into oblivion, and to inform the next generation about your experiences and adventures. On the other hand, his means that we, the memoir writers, have the power to change and exaggerate memory to serve our own reasons and ends. Sometimes it's as benign as the ability to swap names and make up conversations, but other times it can be used maliciously to terrible effect. For an example, in the mid-80s there was this woman named Michelle who released a memoir called Michelle Remembers, detailing the horrible abuse she suffered at the hands of a cult called the “Church of Satan.” 

Just another chill book

The book claimed that there were thousands of other devil-worshiping cults across the US, especially in churches and preschools. The book was a best seller, spreading fear and paranoia across middle America, culminating in the 90s “Satanic Panic” that was one of the worst witch-hunts of modern times. And here's the thing, it was all made up. Surprise surprise! (The fact that Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Peter all appear as corporeal characters in the book might have been a indication that all was not right.) But it was that book, the emotional impact that it had, that launched this huge movement. That's just one instance, I could also list things like Seduction of the Innocent and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as other examples of memoirs or manifestos that had huge social impact. I guess that I mean that we have to be careful when writing memoirs because memoirs are about real places and real events who could be affected by our inaccuracies.