It's Some Good Advice, That You Just Didn't Take...

"Memories are meant to fade. They were made that way for a reason." - Strange Days (1995)

Today we speak and the words forcefully pass our vocal cords, are bounced against our palates by our tongues and forge through our teeth and out of our lips only to sputter a few inches in front of us and smack against the floor with the vigor of vomitus. We live at a time when a mid-90s musician writes a song called "Ironic" that reaches number one on the billboards and the song does not contain a single example of irony (no, rain on your wedding day is not ironic, nor is a free ride when you've already paid, though some might say these are unfortunate occurences). We have also witnessed one of the most celebrated presidents say on national television that the interviewer's question depending "On what your definition of is is."

"Cogito ergo sum."
"Je pense, donc je suis."
"I think, therefore I am."

These words spoken by the same man, here presented in three different languages have significantly altered the trajectory of human philosophical and mental development for approximately the last 500 years. These words, and the other writings of Rene Descartes have given people the ability to make the world whatever they have wanted to make it. They have allowed people to take the notion that the only thing one can say is true is that they exist and transform it into the contract labor oppressing capitalist ideology and from there into the will to power that states that all things are permitted. All things, apparently, really mean all things.

There is a shot that is administered to chemotherapy patients that bolster the white blood cell counts after the chemotherapy drugs have diminished them. there are different such shots, but the one that I know of is Neulasta (pegfilgrastim). The dosage is recommended to be a single 6-mg injection per chemotherapy cycle (www.neulasta.com). This amounts to about 2-3 seconds. The drug is considered imperative to many patients who undergo agressive chemotherapy cycles as it prevents life-threatening infections that can stall the administration of chemotherapy, which can allow for the spread of the cancer. You see, though the drug cost can grow as high as $7,000.00, which is good if it's your two-week paycheck, but less good when it is part of your two-week expenses (www.neulastainfo.com). Certain healthcare insurance companies do not believe that neulasta is a necessary drug and so many refuse to for it. Nine months I was on a treatment that required me taking the neulasta shot. since, I don't like when people say "You do the math," I'll do the math: 9 months X two treatments per month = 18 times the neulasta shot is given. 18 x $7,000.00 = $126,000.00 and remember that this is with insurance.

There is a basic difference between something that is necessary and something that is sufficient even though many people do not understand that difference, including insurance companies. A condition is necessary if and only if it must be true in order for some situation to possibly be true. Or if the necessary condition is not true then there is no way that the situation can be true. For example, being a mammal is a necessary condition of being a human because you have to be a mammal in order to possibly be a human and if you are not a mammal then there is no way you can be human. A condition is sufficient if and only if in some situation if the condition is true then the situation must be true. For example, being a human is a sufficient condition of being a mammal because if you are a human then you must be a mammal. The difference is subtle. Because the sufficient condition is not also a necessary condition. That is, being a human is sufficient to show that you are a mammal, but it is not also the case that being human is a necessary condition of being a mammal, for instance you can not be a human (you can be a marsupial) and you can still be a mammal.

The insurance company decided, without consulting me, that the shot was not a necessary condition for my survival because perhaps, without it, I would still live. They also decided that it wasn't sufficient because perhaps, with it, I still might not live. In translation to formal logic, the quotation above says that memories are designed to fade because they are meant to fade. If we were using Microsoft Excel we would get an error reading saying "Circular Reference." The quotation believes that knowing that memories are capable of fading is sufficient to knowing that memories are meant to fade. This logic, however, begs the question by assuming as a premise exactly what it aims to prove.

I still remember the first smell I ever smelled: snow.
I still remember the first time I ever saw my fiancee.
My friend Andrew still remembers so many things about Susan.
My cousins Michael and Timothy still remember everything about their mother.
My fiancee still remembers what it was like when I called her on July 6, 2006.
My sister-in-law still remembers both of her cousins so well.
My mom still remembers the times of each of her three childrens' births.
We all still remember a lot of things

Memories are not meant to fade or else they would all fade. No, memories are meant to be remembered, forever. The ones that fade away are replaced by the ones that never will.

Remembering is a sufficient condition for surviving... And I can't wait to remember what it feels like to hear the good news of a clean bill of health once more...

Peace...