Memories are not supposed to be thrown away

Memories are what makes us individuals. It is our past, our present and our future. Throwing away trinkets and old photos is not only a little rash but also like trying to sever ourselves from our past but to little avail. They’re still there but the reminders have been discarded so it doesn’t really do what it’s supposed to do.

Throwing things that connect to our past is like trying to throw away your past. Why would you do that? If the past is extremely unpleasant then by all means do so. But if it’s a photo of a young you, and you’re now in your 50s or 60s and looking at that photo upsets you because you were so young, well it’s natural but I would never want to discard it. In fact, I would want to look at the way I used to look in my early twenties and be happy that I used to be pretty.

One writer suggests that it is cathartic to throw away things. She thinks that having old memories around you holds you back from developing in the present. She suggests throwing away old diaries (and by diaries I don’t mean calendars but what the Americans call journals); she suggests throwing away photos of your youth; she suggests throwing away notebooks and even books that you might have read in the old days and that you loved. I kept a diary from the age of 17 right up to about 20 years ago; in fact I have about 4 or 5 volumes of information, They contain some good memories but they also contain accounts of some unpleasant ones. But even so I would never ever throw them away. In fact having those diaries is almost like history and a great way to recall when something happened should you need to know the exact date.

I would also never ever throw away a trinket, especially not one that was given to me by a family member, no matter what the memory attached to it was. I just might, though, discard one that was from someone I once knew but it has unpleasant memories associated with it. I have photos of my university graduation in which I looked young and so did my parents. If I want to grow today, should I be discarding those? Of course I shouldn’t.

I mean, if people are about discarding old memories, would they consider discarding memories of their parents when they were young no matter how difficult their childhood was? Or even photos of their parents right before they passed away, because that’s very unpleasant and sad too? I don’t think they would and if they did I would think them a little rash, weird and most likely to regret doing so later on.

Many parents keep memories of when their children were growing up. Photos of holidays they had and the annual school photo, the yearbook that’s distributed to children in America. We didn’t have that in England but I now wish they did because it would be a terrific keepsake and something I would never discard. And some 40 to 45 years later I wish I had kept my school report cards. They got carelessly discarded, as one does when one is young. But to discard things at a later age is just incomprehensible. And in some offices, when a member of staff leaves, the office bands together to buy them a going away gift and a card signed by everyone with whom the leaver had contact.

They’d write nice comments, some sarcastic ones, but well-meaning, and some funny, Now offices have a mix of good memories and bad ones. Despite that, years later should we discard the gifts and the cards? I was given a card and a load of art supplies that I still cherish. I would never discard either.

I feel that all old memories are like keepsakes that ought to be cherished because these memories are unique to you and you alone and no one else. Why would you take that uniqueness and throw it away? I think you are doing yourself a disservice.