Memories

Memories are curious aren’t they? Most of the time we put them up on a pedestal and worship them. We put up monuments to them on our walls and wallets, mantelpieces and minds. I have a great memory. I retain more than just little snippets of my life and guard them closely for as long as I can. Sometimes they get embellished with time and sometimes the stories lose parts. But for the most part, I remember. I don’t need momentoes. Cameras and diaries have become an extension of my ego really and Facebook and Blogspot are simply facilitators. I remember so many things. And I like that.

But memories can also be evil. A flash of color, a whiff of perfume, a missed taxi, a sesame bagel. Plane tickets, taxi receipts, movie ticket stubs; random hotel room key cards, a red dress; boarding passes of trips gone by. Sometimes, we don’t need to remember, we want to forget. We have to forget. But how do you erase memories? How do you get rid of them so totally that they do not resurface anywhere, anytime? It’s cruel that something so beautiful can also be so ugly. Something that you hang onto for all your life you also wish you could give away. Another one of life’s paradoxes one might say. Without day there would not be night, without bad there could not be any good. Yes, I say, but it’s not the same.

Memories, these can slowly kill you. Eat you up from inside. It’s all good to when you can put it to good use and teach others about life’s lessons learnt but in order to do that, you have to get them out of your heart and mind in the first place. And that, my friends, is the tough part. Acknowledging the memories. Bringing them to the forefront, and worse still, out in the open. Dealing with things past. Admitting your mistakes and forgiving others. Purging your soul.