Are you really the "you" you remember?

A really good friend and I were watching the series premier of "Drive" this weekend (the first three episodes are faboo!) and they revealed the past of one of the characters played by Nathan Fillion (Go Captain Tightpants! Woo-hoo!) and Dansingjack raised an interesting point during the discussion that followed this weekend. I know, I know, a Fox program? Engender discussion not of the "OMG, did you see the boobs she had? Yeah, scary. The discussion was about repression and memory and it went something like this:

When something that we are not comfortable with in our past happens, and we decide to change our lives for the better (or worse, depending on your point of view) does that person that we were really go away like a lot of us like to believe, or is the old us just lurking beneath the surface waiting for the right trigger?

I'm fairly certain I remember my past. But that conversation made me wonder: With some of the event in my past, have I tinted them to camouflage what I really did, or do I remember them the right way?

I remember leaving random roses. I know I did that.

I don't remember a conversation I might have had on a difficult religious subject that may have caused a rift in a friendship, only that the friend stopped calling.

I remember being badly hurt in most of my relationships. I know I felt that.

I don't remember why I got dumped, except for what I "remember".

Did some of the people I knew really do and say the things I "remember" them saying or did I fictionalize it to lessen the pain and the anger that I felt towards those individuals?

I used to be certain in my beliefs about my past.

Now? I'm not so sure.

I mean, I know what I remember, but does it jive with what they remember?

Of course, if I did post what I remember, I'm certain that they person who I think did whatever it was that they did to me will remember something completely different that makes me look like the bad guy instead of the wronged party. That's a natural tendency, I believe, to cast yourself in the best light possible. This makes the entire exercise moot, truth be told.

Why?

Simply because after anywhere from 5 years to a decade everyone is different.

I'm not the same guy I was in some respects, but in other respects I haven't changed a bit. But the overall effect is like "new me" all over again.

I have a different take on life now that I'm 32. I have a different religious standpoint, a different political standpoint, a different roommate and even some tattoos.

I'm not the same person I was in University.

I'm not the same person I was in High School.

Heck, I'm not even the same person I was when I started the job I'm currently at.

How do we really know that we know what we know?

I guess we'll never know...come on loyal readers, give me your takes on it!