I remember...

I remember that first look upon your cradle
I remember the feeling of the air flowing on my legs
I remember these stamps from a faraway land
I remember the smell of stew in the kitchen of my grandmother
I remember taking the ducks out to eat snails
I remember that pressure on my thigh
I remember eating all the madeleines
I remember reading The Little Prince on the sofa
I remember riding saddle-free on a white horse
I remember eating wild pears
I remember your postcard after dancing the death
I remember the taste of artisan butter
I remember drawing the castle
I remember the joy of receiving your long letter
I remember crossing a 2-km tunnel 
I remember picking wild violets
I remember swimming in the middle of the Mediterranean sea
I remember eating a bicycle chicken
I remember the earthquake
I remember the beauty of a zen garden
I remember watching Hitchcock movies alone in the dark
I remember dreaming of castles in Spain*

I am wandering what kind of memories do we create today during these long hours of social media hypnosis? What will we recall of all these TV programs meant to empty our minds? Hardly nothing unfortunately I am afraid. Let’s take action and stop this spiral of emptiness.

Let’s thumb our nose at the dictatorship of ephemerality. Let’s take back control of our time. Let’s stop flooding our brains with blank noise. Let’s resist it.

I was its victim. I grew up in a family that ate with the TV on, that filled its evenings with TV programs. Which of these memories impacted on me? None.

A year ago I decided to put an end to the massacre. I hardly had the time to read books these recent years although I love reading. Yes, all my free time was absorbed by these filthy beasts that put food on a tray that it is usually not so appealing but you eventually end up eating.

So I finally said to myself “No more” with this vertigo feeling that I might get bored. The fear of the void and solitude but what happened was exactly the opposite. All of a sudden, I found time that I had lost. And what a great feeling to find myself back with books again.

Recently, speaking with friends, the question was “where is the point to mainly be informed of the disasters that happen in the world?” I personally do not see the point.

Unplugging the TV has been my last action, after keeping social media to a minimum for already a couple of years. I decided not to leave my brain filled with rubbish from news broadcasts or by useless noise coming from the social media. I decided to fill it with beauty and memories of things I do, of books I read and that eventually opened my mind, and of visual stories that I imagine.

I aspire to meticulously transform myself every day thanks to the culture I choose and the indelible memories I create. I claim to be a relentless beauty- seeker in a world that mainly highlights ugliness to keep us hypnotised.

*Inspired by the book "I remember" by Georges Perec available on Amazon.