Goldfish Memory

I read somewhere that a goldfish has a memory that lasts for just 3 seconds. This means that when a goldfish is experiencing any particular emotion, it feels as though that emotion is the very definition of all of its existence. Hence that hungry goldfish thinks it has been starving since the day it came to life and dying goldfish thinks it has been dying all its life. Of course, it’s all internet hogwash but it seems to have an application in human interpersonal relationships.

Many relationships are described by the circumstances that ended them or the most recent condition of the relationship. This and outcome bias go a long way in tainting the plausibility that these ending circumstances could be one-offs or misunderstandings and not necessarily a defining aspect of the other’s caliber. I’ll explain with an example.

KFK was a sworn member of the Barger cult in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He was the personal bodyguard to the cult chief and as such, was a well known member of the cult. KFK died on enemy turf trying to broker a peace during a cult beef in 2011 while keeping the cult chief in the dark. The Barger cult didn’t attend his burial because it was believed KFK wasn’t a loyal member of the cult. KFK had been a member for 3 years.

In the end, this introspection into a person’s ethos only comes up when it seems rational to do so because a rapist is a rapist and a sex offender is a sex offender (the game is the game). I guess the moral of the story is that it’s human nature that relationships have some friction or even make the leap to end, but we shouldn’t let isness become the full story of our lives. Either that or that I can still put sentences together and call it a blog article.

R. I. P KFK.