What Do You Actually Remember?

A few days ago I had an interesting conversation with my dad, that made me think. He found a few postcards about our city, old postcards with some buildings and statues that have been demolished since then and asked me if I remember them.

I said, of course I remember them, but this is not so simple as you think. Your mind can trick you easily, you don't even realize it and I tell you how.

My dad used to be an amateur photographer when I was a kid and he has tons of photos of us from a very young age. He took photos wherever we went, in the country and abroad as well and we often looked at them. I can say I'm extremely lucky in this regard as times were different back then and not many had this privilege.

Back to my question, on a second thought, I started to think if I actually remember them where they were, as they were, or I just remember postcards and/or photos about them and to tell you the truth, I don't know which one it is. I sure remember the photos and the postcards, but to have actual memories of those scenes ... I am not sure, I really don't know and tend to believe I don't.

And this is where my trick comes in.

As you may know, I love taking photos. While in Paris, my cousin told me I am like the Chinese (no offense intended), because they are the ones taking photos of everything, everywhere. You see them pouring out of busses and indeed taking photos of everything. It is not a bad thing, trust me.

I love art, museums, exhibitions, but above all, I love to visit places. Always, and I mean always take photos, wherever I go and where photographing is prohibited, I am not happy.

Being a blogger helps me in this regard as I like to share what I see with you on Hive, to give you the opportunity for you to see it too and to keep my journal on an immutable platform.

Posting content on Hive is not as easy as it seems at first glance, especially if you want to post quality and not just throw two lazy sentences and three crappy photos. It takes time to document what you're writing about, especially if it's art or travel. Going through the photos while drafting the post helps me memorize everything better and trust me, it's a huge help long term. I have a very good visual memory and remember what I see, but when it comes to art, I used to visit (at least) three exhibitions every month, each with as much as 40 - 80 exhibits, you can imagine what happens. Some of the most interesting pieces stay in my memory for longer, but the rest fades away in time.

You may argue that we don't have to remember everything, which is true, but then again, we go to places to see and what you're left with for the rest of your life is memories. yes, we buy physical things as well, some useful, some useless, but memories are more precious, in my opinion anyway.

So back to the initial question, what do we actually remember? I bet I'm not the only one remembering things about my childhood, but at a careful examination, do I really remember those scenes? Or those scenes got printed in my head, because my parents told me about them many times over the years?

What do you think about the matter? Have you thought about this? Feel free to let me know in a comment.

If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides: