On the Origin of Memories
As it was a beautiful day on Saturday, I decided to ride my bike. It had been a while since I had gone to ride my bike, and it was an extremely nice and relieving experience. However, my purpose is not to give a description of my bike ride. I would like to focus on a sight and the consequent reflections I made.
As I got closer to a mini lake, I perceived two ducks. Frightened by my arrival, the ducks that had been peacefully resting in the warmth of the sun began to waddle hurriedly away. I could not suppress my laughs of amusement, watching their frantic race to get away from me. But suddenly, in the midst of my giggling, an image struck my mind. I remembered a particular toy I used to play with in my childhood, that I had received at the age of four. The toy consisted of a mother duck with her three ducklings, all four attached as a little train with a string to pull the toy. A tune would come out when the ducks were pulled, and this tune resonated in my head. I remembered how I used to play with this toy, amused by how the ducks would trail behind me and sing a little tune. For some reason, after this memory crossed my mind, it remained, attracting other sweet memories of my childhood back to me.
This episode made me think about the discussion with Dr Schoolman about memory again, about the origin of memory. Hadn't Marcel Proust developed a series of book entitled On the Search of Lost Time related with this topic? Wasn't his source of inspiration the memories triggered by the taste of a madeleine, reminding him of his aunt? It made me question the origin of memories. It made me reflect upon the strength of these memories, and their intricacy intertwining them with our mind.
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