Memories: The Lifewire Of Man And Human Society

Do you remember your first kiss?

I bet you do, or the first time you heard those words “I love you.” I foresee you also remember exactly how you felt. Such memories and more are catalogued in the minds of many beings. Solely because man has an urge and need to always preserve something from birth to death; money, relationship, integrity, family, values, morals and memory make the cut. Having to take a flashback to some memories has us feeling nostalgic and simply enough. The triggers are very minute elements such as the wind, a smell, a sound and other forms of triggers peculiar to different people. Memories are ways to relive cherished moments we cannot get back. Unfortunately, not all memories are cherished; some are wounds that grow into scars. Notwithstanding the quality of the memory, they involuntarily flash at intervals and are always at the backdrop of life while we relieve those past moments concealed in our minds.

Let us recount the film, “Slumdog Millionaire” because this 2008 film is an archetype of the importance of memory in every waking moment of a man’s life. Summarily, the film projects how vital our memories are and how far they can take us; as it did for Jamal as he recounted his life which revealed to him the answers needed. For the orphan, his jolts of memories got him to where he was to win the prize money of the show. Fortunately for him via his nostalgic reincarnations, he was able to find in his catalogued recollections the answers to the questions based on his stored up life experiences; his memories were vital to him being a millionaire.

The bedrock of anniversaries, therefore, are succinctly built on memories with the need to commemorate and relive the memories of years back, which have thrust to become a significant element in the culture and traditions of society. We count down and point to #Christmas #Newyear and more are wired by memories that have sustained the development of society having to go through years of multiple celebrations of memoirs. 

Human beings and the need to preserve memory are visible in all that we do and this is where pictures feature where these types of memory exist outside the minds of people. Pictures do not just do it, but also other things like pieces of jewellery, clothes among others. At varying events, the presence of a camera is always there to capture the moments.

Going down memory lane is a path we often love to go. This is evident at events and parties that have families and friends gathered and chattering chit chats. Another way memory wires life is by defining relationships, life, our culture and society and, ultimately, defining man. 

Michael Jackson, in a song asked, “Do you remember when we fell in love?” This song, like the aforementioned film, thrives on memories of experiences. For Michael Jackson, these lyrics are that of a man in love who is desperately taking his estranged lover down the streets of memory to hopefully patch things up. 

Human memories are catalogues of human experience and, in the case of dementia; it is a process of ageing where the memory of the human experience is locked up in the minds of the aged/individual who ends up becoming a shadow of themselves.

For memories of a man to take shape, it does not have to take centuries or decades to take shape, form or be built, for they are created every defining second of human life and society. It also aids in the decision-making process one has to make. Be it memories of centuries ago or seconds past, society and man then lean on memory as it serves to validate and establish life and our relationship with others to either cut a relationship, fix or let it blossom. Eventually, such scenarios create phrases like “Do you remember that time” like Michael Jackson’s song, which relies on the memories of the estranged lovers to fix up their relationship.

Generically, as man ages, he weakens and so does his memory, drawing a spotlight on how memories are the hallmark of man. Now when dementia sets in for some, a disease susceptible to the aged and others with a medical condition, we begin to watch our loved one’s slip through our fingers thus becoming a shadow of themselves because their memories which defined and made them have been locked up by dementia. It is heart-wrenching to think of a moment when your parents or family and friends see you and ask you “who are you?” 

The human society hence is a catalogue of human experience built on memoirs of memories that have come to structure the varying cultures practised in varying societies. Our religious and civil holidays are given life by taking a trip down memory lane. 

Memories are histories that are a key phenomenon in the history and development of human society as the man builds up a series of history leading to a mesh of great intertextuality. In the falsetto voice of Adam Levine, “Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not cause the drinks bring out all the memories.”