Why Remember?
Published on June 17, 2025
Why remember? We use our memories as a function, a way to accomplish something, like a quiet thread that binds together everything we value. A face recalled, a name recognized: these moments of memory create the web of relationship and connection. For example, the weight of a birthday or other small detail remembered is heavier than it seems. It declares, “You matter to me,” without words to explain it.
Memory was once practiced as a discipline, a form of art painted by scholars, poets and personalities. Recalling memories paves the way for identity. Maybe the act of remembrance is akin to sculpting, the sculptor being a mind and the medium a soul.
We think of memory as something personal, or at least I have frequently, but it’s only fractionally about us. Memory might be the way to live longer, because “time flies” when days start to blend on account of not being memorable. Therefore, a method for experiencing a long life is to make sure that each day has something memorable. The more associations you can make for each memory, the easier it is to recall—just as a spider with a large web has many paths and options to navigate to his caught prey.
I believe that everyone owes to themselves the effort to cultivate a strong memory, and that a strong memory brings us closer to others and closer to being human.