Digging Into Memories

I was packing my shelf yesterday, part of my spring cleaning project. Decided that I shall do a thorough job of spring cleaning this time round. While cleaning, I came across my old old autography book that is so tattered and torn and forgotten by me. Inside were "childish" words from classmates back in the RGPS days and slightly more "matured" but still childish and girlish words from friends back in the Crescentian days. Many wrote who were their besties and good friends. Words that were used at such free will, as if everyone really were good friends. Reflecting on these words exactly 10 years down the road, I am barely friends with most of them. Or rather, I have already long lost contact with them. Some, I found again on facebook. But, with 10 years between us and different life experiences along the way, I guess you can hardly classify us as friends anymore. I would say it's more like acquaintances, and facebook is just an utility for everyone to say, "Hey! I know you! You were from back in _____(insert where you met the person)!" Totally superficial. Then again, human beings are pretty superficial animals. So what if we have a "sophisticated" brain. For all we know, it's just because we can talk and verbalise our ideas to each other and being unable to understand how the other animals exactly communicate that we had been feeling this superiority to other organisms on earth. Yet, we human beings are also the weakest and most vulnerable when there's any changes. A tiny microscopin orgnism such as a virus or bacteria could do so much harm and cause so much disaster to us, and we would be at their mercy. In situations like this are we human being still the superior being? I guess not. It's true that we've tried means and ways to come up with solutions to either eradicate these virus and bacteria or even keep them under control but I guess we've never really found an effective solution to all these problems, rather, solutions found are temporary measures.
Ok. I've digressed way too far. As I was saying, looking at all these entries again 10 years down the road, it saddens me a little to know that I no longer keep in contact with most of these people, some of whom were really close back then. I might not even remember many of the things we did together anymore. They just weren't that memorable that they would remain etched in my memories or perhaps they are just tucked in a corner of my mind and I just don't know how to retrieve them. Perhaps you could blame it on the recency effects, like how I could remember these 7 years better than other memories before. Human brain is so complex. However, I know that all these people had in a way or two shaped me to become who I am today, and in doing so, they had left footprints in my life, on the sandy beach of my life. One interesting thing I noticed though with all the autographs that I have gotten was that many saw me as a person with strong character, tough, cheerful and even optimistic. There were even entries from my seniors that I was a naughty junior. Reading these words again, I wonder was or am I really what they saw, or was it just all an act, a strong front that I put up as a defense mechanism all these years? I am saying this because, despite that I still give people a very strong outlook of me, I feel myself becoming a little weak inside. Can I even say becoming? Perhaps there was this weak me all along, one I which I had taken care of and made sure was hiding properly all these years? Perhaps. But then again, everyone has their own weaker side, and also a dark side. It's a matter of how well each inidivdual hides them. And so I must say, I must have done a pretty good job hiding them all these while. Whatever it is, I guess we will have to learn to embrace them and accept that that is just me and no one else.