Pause

 A story that causes me to put politics and finance on the back burner, and thrusts into the forefront of my mind such questions as “what the hell is it all about?”  Such is the case today when an obituary crossed my desk. Henry Molaison died at age 82. He lived for decades with severe amnesia traced originally to an episode when he was nine years old and was hit by a bicycle. He developed seizures and later suffered convulsions. Eighteen years after the accident, Molaison, known as HM, underwent experimental brain surgery in an attempt to correct the seizures, but he developed “profound amnesia” and lost the ability to form new memories.

            HM could recall life in the 1940’s, and personal memories of himself at the time, but virtually nothing after that. He volunteered to allow himself to be studied over many years, and because of him, scientists discovered that there are at least two systems in the brain for creating memories. He participated in more than fifty years research and hundreds of studies that shed light on learning and memory. One of his doctors remembered him in his obituary as “a gracious man, very patient. And yet every time I walked in the room, it was like we’d never met.” HM will be remembered for his ground breaking contributions to understanding the brain.

            Can you imagine a life without memory?  The idea might be too bizarre for science fiction - too imponderable. Almost zen-like - like the “sound of one hand clapping.”  And what of this man’s life?  He was a mechanic before the experimental surgery. It’s hard to say what he was after the surgery. The value of his life was at the cost of his failure to remember most of it. I would have loved to have known him and been able to talk with HM before he died. I wonder if he knew he had no memory. I wonder a million things about him.

            I’m certain at some point in the next few days, I’ll be in the middle of something, probably something “very important”, possibly stressful, and the idea of HM’s life will come to mind. That wouldn’t be a bad thing. I’m just saying it’ll probably happen, and I’ll remember it for a moment or so.