Koo's Theorem

James Koo

Whether in the yearbook or on Lighters website, we increasingly write about  the good old times or reminiscent the olden days. Some of the Lighters will describe in such detail and vividness as if it has happened just yesterday.  I myself wrote about all the beautiful girls in Pui Ching (excuse me, Dennis Su, you think I am biased. But that was what I remembered. Please read on), the tough time I had, how hard I had to study and etc. Then I read an interesting study about how does one's memory change as time goes by.

Professor Daniel Offer at Northwestern University Medical School tracked down 67 men he had interviewed in 1962 when they were all 14-year-old boys. Thirty-four years later he asked them, now 48 years old, to think back to their teen years and answer the same questions. So many had changed their  answers that, statistically, anybody taking a guess in the survey would have scored just as well.

- For instance, as teenagers, only 14% of the boys said they were their mother's favorite. As men looking back, a full 30% remembered being the favorite.

- As teenager, 40% said that home was physically uncomfortable, but only  11% thought it was emotionally uncomfortable. Looking back as adults, only  15% remembered feeling physical discomfort but 50% complained that it had  been emotionally uncomfortable.

- Even a question as seemingly objective as whether physical punishment  was used elicited conflicting answers. As boys, 82% said they received  physical punishment as a discipline. As men, only 33% remembered it that way.

- 23% of the men remembered themselves as bookish and enjoyed mental activity. Back when they were 14, only 5% did.

It seems obvious that:

1. I thought I studied very hard (part of the 23%) to catch up with 
everybody at Pui Ching. Based on the figures above, I could very well be a goof off, part of the 5%. That is how I had time noticed all the beautiful girls at Pui Ching. When I met them again the first time after 40 years at Toronto, I found they are more beautiful than I remembered.

2. Obviously men cannot remember a thing and they are more likely to be wrong. Notice the above study was conducted among men and boys. As a professor, he must have conducted the same study among women and girls but  he has nothing to report. They must have remembered everything. This is more startling and significant.

Shortly after getting married, I quickly learned that my wife Winnie is always right; now I begin to find my daughter Jackie, she has become increasingly right all the time, as she grows to be a woman. To verify this theory, I shared this discovery (Koo's Theorem) with my fellow Lighter Larry  Wan, and he agreed with me immediately that his wife Lulu is always right 
(they came to visit SF Bay Area this weekend and Lulu confirmed this theorem). To prove his point, he sent me a joke about how does your wife remember all your faults better than you do.

I further tried this theory with all the male Lighters at the dinner table of last Friday night's get together, the reaction was overwhelming, and they demanded I share this with all the Lighters. Now in the typical Chinese tradition, I also plan to share this theorem with my son and son-in-law when  my son and daughter marry. What do you all think?