Th'Inkwell provides an interesting essay, entitled "Memory Game" combining some beautiful thoughts about memory and the efficacy of government sponsored preservation programs.
"We try (in vain) to revisit the places of childhood, old workplaces, places where we felt happy or favorite haunts but find that change has tainted the physical reality irrevocably. I find that these trysts with time give me value only when I realise that the physical place acts as a key to unlock a depth of memories that I had thought long forgotten but that I possessed all along. The place is not a warden of the memories or strictly necessary to induce them – it’s simply very, very effective at prompting them.
Indeed, the sad realisation that I could never again stand in a particular forest glade in Sydney when the light hit it a certain way through a gap in the trees, dappling everything beautifully and making the white flowers everywhere luminesce simply made me treasure that moment in my mind all the more. That memory is of a time when skipping was still a reasonable mode of locomotion and adults were considered tall. The trees have likely grown since, the place may even have a building on it. My memory, however, is beautiful, pristine, unique – and what’s more, it’s mine and mine only."
-- Monica White
Read the whole thing.
I remember those happy days "when skipping was still a reasonable mode of locomotion". Not too many days ago, I was trying to remember, when was the last time that I skipped. Sadly enough, I couldn't remember.
