“Has it Ever Struck You That Life is All Memory. Except for the One Present Moment That Goes by you so Quick you Hardly Catch it Going?”

Have you ever seen moving video of the past and had a moment of fear and wonder that every person who was once thinking, with a life of their own in that exact video, is long, long gone? This piece was triggered by my viewing of the first coloured video of London in 1924.

Throughout life, it is almost impossible to comprehend our own existence and the world and universe we live in. No matter how much we may think we understand it, or how self-aware we may think we are, we still know almost absolutely nothing. It can be scary living life, unaware of your movement towards the end. Like some people, I too have these realisations sometimes, however this realisation is often triggered by seeing people alive and living, who are now dead.

It is fearful to imagine, you can see dreams, hopes, failures, happiness, sadness, fears and entire family backgrounds and lives all playing out in front of us on a video, yet it is all what has mentioned has been long concluded for these people.

I say that the first coloured video of life moving about in 1924 London was what triggered this, and that is true, but what made me have inspiration for genuinely documenting my thoughts on this was the quote by Tennessee Williams from The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, the quote being “has it ever struck you that life is all memory. Except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?”

This quote put the fear of God into me to be honest. It made me realise that one day, I am gone, and the only proof of my existence will be any documented video of me, much like those people roaming throughout London in 1924. It made me realise that my life is all one constant growing memory, there never really is a ‘present’ moment. Every moment that feels like it is in the present is instantly moving into the past as it happens. It is only at the end, or through other people’s viewing and retrospect, that they can realise the present of other people’s lives. As for the people living the lives, it will never truly be the ‘present’.

I guess the main point for this piece is not much. It is a thought, a concept, a fear, and an awe at what life really is. It is a memory, and one day, the only proof of that memory ever being a present, existing moment will be the video documentation left behind of you living your life, blissfully unaware that every moment of your present is moving instantly to your past.

To view the video of London in 1924, you can do so via this link – First Coloured Video of Life in London in 1924.