This job requires you to memorize words, above all else. And then, filter them and convert them into words of another language, maintaining the original meaning of the statement. But the memory part comes first. If you don't memorize the word, tone, and meaning, the rest doesn't follow. First principles thing.
This is, of course, speaking of short-term memory. Because we only need to retain certain information for the near future, and that´s what the job requires. And our brain has this way of archiving and compartmentalizing everything in a nice and tidy mess, according only to what it needs. And it's the subconscious alley of our minds that decides what things are worthy of storing for the future, and what are not.
But what of what falls through the cracks?
If, let's say, someone were to ask me to write about the three most significant calls I have ever had over sixty-five hundred hours of active interpretation (cough cough), I would likely have a great deal of a challenge in making a choice. Because I remember some, but not all. And the ones I forget may be important. Who am I to truly tell? I know my filter tries to remain neutral, but I also know for sure it has its own alignment.
Our brains are fleshy and human. We deal with such extreme situations on the line, day to day. We are often just pushing it to keep the system going, and our own selves capable. Mental health is a big deal within the framework we dwell in. The mind isn't always steady to the point of total and complete awareness; let's admit it. Like any other human, we require coffee, we fall sick, and we keep pushing. Some days we are also moody, maybe homesick.
And the brain might be prioritizing other unlawful things on a given day. Balancing its madness, if you want to talk crazy. It can be that I don't remember a call right now because of reasons unknown to me but known to the universe, but that may have ended up being one of the most significant calls someone would ever have.
This being said, the first call is always a significant one, I guess. I have a memory of that one. I guess I can share it. Mine wasn't medical. It was none other than coming from ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
A Brazilian family had jumped the border, and they were caught after crossing the border and surrendered to ICE. I could hear mum, dad, and a baby in the room, back at the headquarters. San Diego/ Tijuana crossing. They were young, in their twenties. They were being questioned by an ICE detective with a Hispanic accent.
The guy was being pretty hard on them. Not afraid to speak loudly and harshly. "Where did you come from? From Brazil, you went where? And then you stayed how many nights, and went where after?" I remember he also stated firmly that cooperation would mean a better outcome with the Immigration's investigation.
I was a fresh fish in the water. Kept my pace as best I could, but I remember the baby always crying and the mother increasingly growing more and more anxious, which made it that so did I. I remember the detective still pressing a couple more times through the crying, trying to use it as an advantage. Same repeat of the same questions a couple more times, with intensity in his voice, trying to prove he was a greater authority than the baby.
Eventually, he ended up asking for a recess less than five minutes into the call.
I also remember I stayed on the call, but I don't remember what happened next. It must have been softer, if I don't. But I still remember having a harsh wake-up to the reality I was about to professionally commit to, because I do remember ending the call and asking for a session with my trainer to address it.
"It's like plunging in cold water on the hottest of summer days, isn't it?"
Her words, the trainer, asking how it felt to take that first call. The rest of the conversation will remain off the record. But I'm writing this more than five years after, and that should mean something.
I wish I could remember ALL the calls. Sadly, I can't.