Our existence in this world seems to lack a purpose, being born, growing up and then starting a family and dying seems to be a boring life cycle. However, this is a lie, everyone has a purpose in the world, for good or for evil, all of us forge our destiny with the purpose of fulfilling our goals for our well-being or equally to demonstrate to others our capabilities out of pride. Like every person we are capable of many things, but it takes the right moment and certain reasons to push and surpass the limits such as physical and mental to achieve a certain goal. As a college student I have one goal, to finish my studies and my reason is to meet certain requirements to get a career and keep a life afloat without debt and with food in the refrigerator. Our ancestors had to face a dangerous world, and every move they made was a game between life and death. A nomadic life, following a herd of animals during the seasons and hunting animals demands a strong body and weapons to survive. Until the discovery of agriculture changed our nomadic lives into a sedentary one, which fueled the creation of societies and then empires that forged our present. Agriculture is essential to meet the food demands of a population of nearly eight billion people in the world, which is a business that makes a lot of money, treaties with other nations to promote food efficiency and economic growth for nations, and it’s not just importing food, but it opens the doors for the sharing of academic, artistic, and political knowledge among groups of people.
Like every human being, I have questions about life and what better friend than other people who also have the same question with a different answer, simple and direct or complicated and hard to believe. However, they are answers that are forged by their lifestyles, family, environment and educational level that are important factors for the development of the unknown activity of human beings, I am just a student who every day is an opportunity to learn about life, learning from history books, listening to advice from loved ones, observing other people’s mistakes and learning from my mistakes to never repeat them, all for my well-being and the well-being of others as a friend, student, future teacher, and future parent. It is because we recognize right and wrong, learn and remember such information so that we’re prepared for a similar situation in the future, and then share it with future generations to keep them safe and alert to danger. A memory can change the course of our history, it is because of the fear of our mortality, and we want to live until the end, we are aware of our end, but at such an event we want to be free of pain and sadness. Our humanity is not only strength, but equal consciousness, a physical body and a free mind with finite possibilities and ideas. A memory that is the cause of our identity, purpose, and motive in the world, perhaps so that we do not feel alone without purpose, but someone who can achieve their goals no matter who gets in our way. A memory means knowledge for the survival of future generations, it means a memory of the past, one more chapter of humanity, a lesson to never forget, a factor of our decision-making, and just like a small memory of our lives that form in moments full of nostalgia.
Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle had a different approach about memory not solely for thinking but it was part of the soul, “a primary sense perception” however this idea helped to develop a new method not only based by perception but by the study of the human mind with great scientist and neurologist such as Sigmund Freud as a psychologist that dedicated himself to the study of the human psyche and personality. In modern times, we understand that the brain is a delicate muscle, but powerful enough to take decisions and be aware of its existence. Modern medicine and advance technology helped humanity to a deeper understanding of our mind, such as that the knowledge acquired from experiments and studies of the anatomy of the human body lead to a more complicated but detailed understanding of the mind, which one example comes from an article of the National Library of Medicine, wrote by Gregorio Zlotnik and Aaron Vansintjan in 2019 “Memory: An Extended Definition” provides a direct and complicated definition of the nature of the memory and process based on the studies of chemical process and the anatomy of the human mind. Not only is an explanation based with convincing evidence which is references to other studies but later acknowledged by the scientific community.
A memory can later become a chapter of the history of humankind that later can become valuable information for the future generations for the betterment of the world or at least to be an example and some advice for upcoming events that can lead to the extinction of our legacy. A phrase from an American historian, David McCullough(1933-2022) said “History is who we are and why we are the way we are” quite confusing but important, because history might be a boring subject to study, but is vital to the understanding of the present, if we do not learn what events took place in the past we would not know the causes that lead to the development of the modern times we are living and the consequences we are paying to this day. Is necessary to ask ourselves where we come from and what causes everything that leads to modern times.
Culture can be another example of a memory but manifested with language, traditions, dance, music, art, behavior, and dressing styles which was developed and/or fused with other people causing that our past generations left a legacy for the future generations, and we will follow the same steps for generations to come. As a Mexican American, I learned from my families’ values and traditions from my home Mexico and learned American principles and ideals such as the right to be whatever I want to be. Culture is what we learned from others and is repeated or somehow strengthened by forming connections with other people that share the same values as our native country. A memory is strong as how many times we repeated until it becomes part of our lives.
“Culture is the lifeblood of a vibrant society, expressed in the many ways we tell our stories, celebrate, remember the past, entertain ourselves, and imagine the future. Our creative expression helps define who we are and helps us see the world through the eyes of others.”
A memory can be somehow be manifested through similar events that makes us unconsciously repeat in our minds the same information to prevent an accident an stay away from danger, but it can take other factors such as the smell of your favorite food, or to witness something or someone familiar that can lead to provoke a sensation of nostalgia, missing good old times with friends and family, or to remember the last time you ate your favorite meal when you were younger, a memory can turn into a lovely nostalgic moment that can be stored with love and affection and becomes part of the story of your life and later on can be a precious advice for someone else. An article from “What Nostalgia is and What it does” can teach us in more detail what causes to repeat certain events and have an emotional attachment to them, it states.
“A complex emotion that involves past-oriented cognition and a mixed affective signature. The emotion is often triggered by encountering a familiar smell, sound, or keepsake, by engaging in conversations, or by feeling lonely.”
Memories are not only bits of useless information, but our memories are also notable events for our survival and later become in advice for the future generations, advice that can change the outcome of our decisions whether is for the benefits for others or for yourself. For history books, a memory can turn into a chapter for the history of humankind, knowledge that can help us to learn our origins and the events that took place and are key events for the understanding of the modern world. For the individual, a memory is all that we have left from loved ones that passed away or old friends we have no contact anymore, a smell or a similar event can lead to the mind manifest that event we loved or hate, but at the end becomes part of our identity, it comes from what we learned from others, our understanding of the world comes from thousands of years of mistake and corrections from past generations of people and for the future is a lesson to learned. One day, in hope that other people will care enough to discover that our mind is not just a machine that records anything that we experienced but is powerful enough to record, store and later repeat the most valuable information that is important enough to become in a memory, millions of memories and piece of information will take place in your mind, but just tell yourself one memory at a time, please!
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