Memory…a word in the dictionary meaning the mental faculty of retaining and recalling a past experience. Aren't there some memories you wish you could forget? Those memories you regret doing and would love to take back. Some recollections of the past aren’t always horrific, though. There are memories of great times with great people…those memories that take you back to the time and place of your first kiss by your first love, that time and place you met your new best friend, or even the time when your team won the national championship. We have so many evil memories, then we have these memories that make everything around us, all of the sudden, go back to that specific time. Although, with all the happiness of the great times, the good memories are usually the ones that bring people down. I know, in my mind, I think, why do we remember things? Sometimes I just wish we would forget everything, and even though this sounds ridiculous, there is good reason behind this. If we forget everything, we won’t regret the bad times, and most of all we won’t miss the good times. I sit here wondering…thinking of everything that I’ve ever done, everywhere that I’ve ever been, and all I can say is “WOAH.” God takes you through the good and the bad, and leads you on a path that, no matter what, you’ll get through. Still, memories, to me, are dangerous. They’re stepping stones to destruction. I’m hoping that one day my mind will change, but while I lie here writing my thoughts, I think about what it would be like to go back in time, to go back to my first step of life, my walk in history that no one recalls but me. I think of everything that people go through, I see how easy my life is, and I’m somewhat ashamed. Ashamed for the fact that I get mad about things that shouldn’t even matter. That I whine when my parents won’t bring my charger for my cell phone or won’t pour me a glass of water, when people right outside my door, going through trash cans would be happy with just a cracker or a little slice of cheese. I mean doesn’t it make you think? Then the thinking leads back to the memories of when you ate your first real meal, at a real table, with real conversation, with people that really love you. Then these people think of how you’re growing up so fast, and they remember your first word, your first step, even your first breath. Memory is a chain reaction…a reaction that leads to something that humans don’t like to think about- time on Earth is short- and here on Earth, we have a thing called legacy, based off of memories formed by other people about your life. Everyone leaves a legacy with each person they come into contact with. This quote from Jesse Jackson reveals exactly what I am saying. “Our dreams must be stronger than our memories. We must be pulled by our dreams, rather than pushed by our memories.”