SAVING THE PAST

 I was, still am, a proponent of technology, even though the advancements are, or have become, beyond my means and needs. With technological advancements I was able to publish and share thoughts and images worldwide. Now, however, advancements are all but rendering most of us invisible, and help us to soon, simply disappear. Perhaps it was a silly dream to expect that there would be room for all to store their memories, to remain important beyond the grave, when reality holds space for but a few. Still many of us hold onto the idea that we are, we were important, and retain memories shelved in a box. Until recently this was my failing. Ever hopeful, I clung to the past, until reality struck home…..

Reality Ignored

I’m in the basement of our house, alone 

with my thoughts. The decision that I must make

is heartbreaking, a reality ignored, 

or so I believe; the boxes sit untouched, 

just as they were placed some 15 years ago, or more,

when we moved, a necessity I was assured, 

in complete agreement with Bob Dylan’s words,

“the times, they are a-changing.” Digital, was becoming

the name of the game. Life, it was plain to see,

would never be the same. The future was evolving,

 our purpose, our goals, our way of life,  sacrificed to enrich 

others’ dreams, aspirations, and ambitions,

or so I thought. 

Our home for many years, my art studio, 

where I spent much of my time making my dreams come true, 

was left behind. We moved to another place where the life 

that we had known would be replaced, a studio 

would be built and dreams pursued, but it wasn’t, and they weren’t 

The art studio remained a collection of boxes, 

and the dreams… put on hold.

Time passed, as time does. 

Today, I decided, would be the day that I had been putting off

I brush away the dust on a box, open the lid, 

and remove a binder. Slides, and transparencies,

hundreds, no, a thousand, maybe more. Memories, 

so many memories, not forgotten, simply set aside, 

awaiting a future that never happened. Each slide 

a memory of a wonderful time, time spent capturing fleeting moments, 

moments stolen from Nature, flashes of light that provided insight 

into a world hardly explored. There were also moments in time,

proof that we existed, for such a very short time.

So many memories, what should I do, 

perhaps, save a few, but time not ever friendly, 

technology had locked up our moments to all but a few,

and then came reality, who would find pleasure 

in some others best, when technology with all of its tricks 

has rendered the past no longer the best,

and who would remember our special moments, 

with everyone past. 

I peered at the odd slide, maybe two, 

and marvelled our efforts given the times, then reluctantly let go.

Not a time for selection. No going back, and I filled a black bag, 

soon to be trash. Our memories recorded are now gone, 

but the memories themselves will live on 

at least, or until, we are gone, and then 

there’s no matter. 

As I reach into the box to remove the last binder a spider flees the box that 

once , but no longer, was its home. I let it flee while it can.

Time, continues to move on.

Not my best attempt at writing, a cathartic attempt to justify letting go the past. It wasn’t at all easy, but the reality is that the slides and transparencies have become obsolete, and the technology that created them no longer exists. I can’t remember when I last saw a camera shop, and to recover/reformat our collection, not worth the effort. Times have changed. No longer do we get together to look at slides. Makes no sense when anything worth seeing can be found on line, or shared on a cell phone. My Ipad takes better photographs than our expensive 35mm camera once did. 

It was time to move on.