Wednesday, July 21, 2004
Memory
Pronunciation: 'mem-rE, 'me-m&-
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English memorie, from Middle French memoire, from Latin memoria, from memor mindful; akin to Old English gemimor well-known, Greek mermEra care, Sanskrit smarati he remembers
1 (a): the power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained especially through associative mechanisms (b): the store of things learned and retained from an organism's activity or experience as evidenced by modification of structure or behavior or by recall and recognition
memory, a double-edged sword..
on one hand, it is so very vital in the encapsulation of beautiful thoughts that bring immediate warmth upon reflection.. thoughts that we want to treasure, keep forever.. memories that we want to keep, framed, in a very special part of our minds.. these memories serve as inspiration, as motivation to push us in this arduous journey which is life.. have u thought of the times when you are so depressed, stripp'd of all hope and emptied of all joy.. a vapid soul.. what remains are these subtle, yet powerful reminders that life is worth living.. memories, keeping what we cherish..
conversely, our memory can be such very painful burden.. our mind is so sophisticated.. we can throw away photos that we feel are unsatisfactory and not worth keeping, but we cannot seek an erasure of part or all of our memory..
(eternal sunshine of the spotless mind?) often, the thoughts that remain most deeply etched in our minds are brought about by events that hurt us, depress us, disappoint us etc.. we have a tendency to remember and recall negative history.. the angst lies in our futile efforts to try and forget the past.. upon closer examination, we realise that older people drag with them large amounts of emotional baggage.. these tie them down, and as we grow older, we become listless, melancholic and increasingly negative..
well? i guess the quintessential issue is how we use our memories, good or bad, to embolden and drive us in this journey which is life.. our reasoning faculties and intellectual resource must function , in order to translate, to convert negative history into something that would inspire and spur us to reach greater heights.. metamorphose thoughts into dreams..
To imagine, to dream a dream..
"To die, to sleep --To sleep, perchance to dream, ay there's the rub, for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause; there's the respect that makes calamity of so long life."
William Shakespeare's Hamlet
