Preserving Memories

*This is an entry for the May Blog Of The Month competition.

What do memories mean to us? What significance do they carry? Is the need to preserve them so important that it deserves a description?

The human mind is designed to probe the slightest of queries which intrigue him and has tried to find answers to most if not all of them.

Nothing has the potential to make us smile in the most stressful and troublesome situations except memories. Memories of our pleasant moments, of even those gruesome situations which had the better of us but gave us a new perspective about life, the remembrance that one had encountered much hardy situations than the present ones and had survived them all. They give us a certain hope that at the end of a dark tunnel a ray of light would always be there for us.

The person who doesn't make memories is devoid of the real happiness one feels when he recalls them. We may not feel the significance they carry now but in the end memories are the only thing to remain. Relations don't remain the same, one's equation with people changes, the best of friends might not have the same level of understanding, the place you visited once might not be the same anymore, your student life ends, you age, you never be the same person ever in your life again-you are only left with the experiences and the moments life has given you.

Some of us can certainly remember the Disney movie "Inside out" in which Riley's personality depends upon her core memories and as the core memories begin to deteriorate there were drastic changes in her personality which affected her badly. How Joy used to make Riley remember all the good memories from her storage to make sure she is up for the challenges that life has to offer and to abolish the sadness and fear that stopped her from being her best. This is why memories hold so much importance! But the question arises how do we store so many memories in such a way that we may able to recall them just the way they happened? And when we are aware that our brain has the capability to eradicate the memory of insignificant events and remember only the ones most appropriate and convincing. Some 20 30 years back the idea of storing your memories by writing them down was much too prevalent, even today some people may use this idea considering a way of imprinting their thoughts and emotions onto paper but in this digital age, with increasing dependence of humans on this technology and taking into consideration the littlest of time people have, the idea of jotting down the smallest of details is considered a hardy task.

One may remember all the fine details of that event once but with time even the crude details seem to be disappearing from his mind. One may use several ways for storing memories --some may find it easy to remember through pictures while others are at ease by penning down all the details. But do these ways guarantee us the pleasure we want to experience when we recall the events? Why do some incidents remain confined to the pictures and their pleasure seeking ability seems to be lost? There seems to be a certain reasoning behind it. The present day human is fond of taking pictures and this is his way of capturing and storing the memorable moments of his life. This seems an exceptional way taking into consideration the fact that even our mind isn't able to recall every event of our life but in the need to capture all the details of an experience the moment is lost. The essence of the moment is lost and once a particular moment passes it can be recalled through pictures but it can't be felt the same way! Even though it is a general phenomenon that as people age they tend to forget the details of events, but interestingly everyone of us has listened to the finest details that our elders tell us about a particular incident! Their feelings associated with that particular incident reflect on their faces-this is the feeling which has been forlorn and forgotten due to the desire to incorporate emotions into pictures which is impossible!

We may remember the moment on sight of the picture but the emotional content of that incident is lost! Remember its not the incident which needs to be stored but the emotions associated with it make us what we are!

Capture the emotions more effectively than the incident.

Living and enjoying the moment automatically engraves the memories on our minds and is the best way to preserve it.

Nobody can relate to ones memories the same way. A same experience may etch different memories on two persons. Moreover a memory may lose its significance when talked about repeatedly. To preserve the flavor and essence of memories they should be recalled deep in the mind or be felt in the heart because they are related to ones inner peace, happiness and satisfaction and there is a need for them to make one a better human being.

- Isha Tariq (Class of 2019)