Monday, August 13, 2012
Spending years in school, we all learned − and were strictly taught − not to trust our memory. That is why notebooks and pens exist; you have to jot things all down before selective amnesia strikes like a lightning in your head.
While exploring the busy street of Singapore with a friend, I remembered how vulnerable my memory has become. Early before my cousins and I parted ways, as they were to buy some stuff to take home and us, to meet a couple of mentors at the other side of the city, I was instructed how to reach the subway and was given all possible landmarks to make the maze-like trip easier. All I had that time was barely my tiny sling bag (inside were face mirror and all the girly kind of belongings, my passport, wallet and nothing more) so I had no other option left but to keenly listen as they coached me where to ride and get off the train. I assumed to have absorbed everything in… I only “assumed” and that’s the big problem ─ we soon realized we lost our way back to the main road! It’s getting dark that time and the male buddy I was with that time is not the type of guy who initiates question to anyone passing by. Trying to recall what my cousins just said was a real pain, as I simply couldn’t recall a thing! For one minute all I wanted to do is to cry out loud and let everyone know we needed help to head back home. It was awful and disappointing.
Then I saw a public phone. I grab the handset right away and called the girls. And since we both didn’t have a pen, we used the mobile phone to safe keep the details they were to give us, again! Gladly, after enduring the awkward hours pondering how on earth could we go back home, we reached our destination safe and sound carrying to this day the biggest lesson we learned ─ it’s never painful to write down important details especially when you’re not really a street-smart.
While exploring the busy street of Singapore with a friend, I remembered how vulnerable my memory has become. Early before my cousins and I parted ways, as they were to buy some stuff to take home and us, to meet a couple of mentors at the other side of the city, I was instructed how to reach the subway and was given all possible landmarks to make the maze-like trip easier. All I had that time was barely my tiny sling bag (inside were face mirror and all the girly kind of belongings, my passport, wallet and nothing more) so I had no other option left but to keenly listen as they coached me where to ride and get off the train. I assumed to have absorbed everything in… I only “assumed” and that’s the big problem ─ we soon realized we lost our way back to the main road! It’s getting dark that time and the male buddy I was with that time is not the type of guy who initiates question to anyone passing by. Trying to recall what my cousins just said was a real pain, as I simply couldn’t recall a thing! For one minute all I wanted to do is to cry out loud and let everyone know we needed help to head back home. It was awful and disappointing.
Then I saw a public phone. I grab the handset right away and called the girls. And since we both didn’t have a pen, we used the mobile phone to safe keep the details they were to give us, again! Gladly, after enduring the awkward hours pondering how on earth could we go back home, we reached our destination safe and sound carrying to this day the biggest lesson we learned ─ it’s never painful to write down important details especially when you’re not really a street-smart.
Posted in: key to sanity,writing marathon
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