As I hear a song on the radio or see a familiar place, years of related
memories come rushing to me. I am overwhelmed by my own thoughts. I reminisce
on who I was. Alluding to the cliché, "being defined by your past", I now see the irony in that
statement. It has been said that the past defines the individual. As Sedaris remarks, each
person had the same “verbs” but just different nouns. Thus, no matter how different a person's circumstances were everyone essentially follows the same "path". Sedaris is so overwhelmed by the fantastical nature of his
partner’s childhood that he wishes to adopt it as his own. By doing this, he
hopes to replace what he considers his monotonous childhood, with one filled with
excitement. However, a person’s childhood is inherently different or "personal"and largely influences their opinion about themselves. Since time is constantly progressing there is no way to
validate the emotions associated with the event. This is the beauty of the past; it is dependent on how a person wants to remember it, and, herein lies the irony in Sedaris's piece. The pursuit of seeking comfort in someone else's past is futile. Instead, he should cherish his own unique past. In the end, the past
is just a person’s perception of themselves.
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