you run and hide from your buck teeth and split ends

(SPOILER ALERT!)
Have you ever seen "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"? Yeah, I saw it the night I broke up with my first boyfriend and the idea of erasing my memory was never so appealing. But part of the allure of the storyline was the fact that, at the end, they both fall into the same trap. They were meant to find each other, to fall (literally) madly in love and hurt each other. Maybe I just have an unhealthy view, but it seems half of the excitement of falling in love is being completely unsure what the other will do to you when you are completely vulnerable, have offered yourself completely to them to either discard or embrace. And sure, no one likes arguments with loved ones with icey stares and cold shoulders, but what would love be without making up, without having to say I'm sorry, no really, it was my fault, I realize I really do need you. Do you know what I mean? (END SPOILER HERE!)
You can't have the light with out the dark. Without the shadows, our world would be washed out, blinding, until you could not see the individual features. Most happy people I know, including myself, have reached that highpoint because of the low points before. Excuse this cliche image, but like a rollercoaster gains momentum to climb its peaks from the descent, how can we climb new heights without having crawled through new depths?
Anyways, you are probably wondering when I will get to the point. A few weeks ago, there was an article on the front page of the New York Times about scientists getting closer and closer to being able to erase specific memories from humans' brains. The article claims this discovery will help people overcome addictions, bad habits and help us better understand the lump of tissue that is our brains.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/health/research/06brain.html

Benedict Carey, the author of the piece, poses the same questions I worry about, "Millions of people might be tempted to erase a severely painful memory, for instance — but what if, in the process, they lost other, personally important memories that were somehow related? Would a treatment that “cleared” the learned habits of addiction only tempt people to experiment more widely?...

...Yet any such drug, Dr. Hyman and others argue, could be misused to erase or block memories of bad behavior, even of crimes. If traumatic memories are like malicious stalkers, then troubling memories — and a healthy dread of them — form the foundation of a moral conscience....

...A substance that improved memory would immediately raise larger social concerns, as well. “We know that people already use smart drugs and performance enhancers of all kinds, so a substance that actually improved memory could lead to an arms race,” Dr. Hyman said."

These possibilities are all worrisome. I'm sure that, once available to the public, there will be laws, rules, at least some sort of interview process before you can go through with the procedure. Well, the same thing is true for plastic surgery, for sex changes. But that doesn't mean there aren't a handful of doctors who in certain situations put profit before their patient's health.
Then, you could argue, the good that this procedure would overcome the bad. Rape victims, child soldiers all could use a clean slate, a sturdy foundation to base their trust in humanity. After such traumatic events it is nearly impossible to lead a normal life.
Now, excuse me for a moment, because I feel I may insult some. I still do not feel it would be right to erase these memories. No one deserves these experiences but life is the good and the bad. Life is overcoming obstacles and life is getting hurt.
Last night, a former sex slave spoke at my school. His babysitter started prostituting him at the age of seven. He was still turning tricks at twelve, but at this point it was to feed his meth addiction. In his twenties he suffered a mental breakdown and was hospitalized several times. Now, this man works for S.A.G.E. (Standing Against Global Exploitation) in San Francisco. His job within this organization is to teach "Johns" (men who have used prostitutes) the physical and emotional consequences of their actions, to themselves and to the women (or even men, or even young girls and boys) that they are sleeping with. They also take leads and tips to free victims of human trafficking in the area. If there is someone taking part in the sex trade against their will, they do everything in their power to remove them from that situation and help them stand firmly on their own. This man, standing up tall and proud in front of the crowd, acknowledged his unstable childhood and acknowledged its necessity. Without his experiences, he would not be the man he is today, he said. He would also not be able to help S.A.G.E. in the same way he does now, as he would not be able to relate to the victims he sees on a daily basis.
The ability to embrace one's painful memories and realize that they are another building block in the person you have become today is an admirable and incredibly mature quality. It shows you are confident in the person you are now, that with the cards you were dealt you were able to build a castle of sorts.
I'll end with a quote from George Orwell's essay "Reflections on Ghandi" (yeah, he went there);
"The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals".