I recently watched the movie Youth. A tale of two friends grappling with the concept of age and identity. A beautiful piece of cinema, it made me reflect on the concept of memory and time. There’s a moment in the film in which the main characters played by Michael Caine and Harvey Keitel are discussing the fact that neither one can remember their respective parents. I thought to myself, gosh imagine the day that I can’t remember my parents. It made me realize that day is not too far away. As I near thirty (which is something I truly am excited about) I come face to face with the realization that life is moving much faster than I care to admit. What is memory but this spark in your brain that moves synapse to synapse and if that’s the case, do I get a say in when it will stop? Most of my favourite memories have happened in the last ten years and though I know I have many more to come it pains me to think that those that I hold so dear will one day disappear, perhaps to be replaced by something better but regardless, will disappear. I recently also finished re-watching The Office and there is a scene in the finale in which Ed Helm’s character muses “I wish there was a way to know you’re in “the good old days” before you’ve actually left them.” That notion is poignant and rings true. I didn’t know those where the “good old days” and while I look back at them fondly and reminisce with wonderful stories as often as I can, I can’t help but realize that one day those memories will be nothing more than that stranger in the street you walk by who looks vaguely familiar. But isn’t that the point? Perhaps life is nothing more than strangers who seem familiar and it is simply, fleeting.
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Me.Nav Nagra is a writer, reader and knitter. She is currently the Ads Coordinator for Room Magazine and is also a member of the Editorial Collective. Archives
September 2016
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