“YESTERDAY, LOVE was such an easy game to play. Now, I need a place to hide away. Oh, I believe in yesterday,” sing The Beatles in their renowned song, “Yesterday.” The song longs for yesterday, portraying the emotion of missing the past. People indeed often miss their yesterdays and long to go back. Retro being a huge trend nowadays, it can be examined that people are feeling nostalgic about past times. Just like the expression “sour grapes,” which reflects the idea that desires may be shaped by constraints, people may be missing the past because they cannot go back to those times. Most people say that one’s twenties is one’s most beautiful time in life. However, every moment in every stage of life is meaningful and worth remembering, as today’s experience will become tomorrow’s memory.

 

   When one becomes a grownup, moments of playing with peers on a kindergarten playground will become an irreplaceable memory. During one’s childhood, one could never have guessed that those times will become precious moments that one cannot go back to.

   One may remember feeling bored about wearing the same school uniform during middle school and high school. I used to look forward to days when I was allowed to wear the outfit of my choice. On those days, I would put on my best clothes and feel liberal and free. I also remember showing off my uniqueness through shoes and bags during school days, since school uniforms all look the same and dull. However, these insipid clothes transform into priceless memories after graduating from high school, which is why adults wear their school uniforms on April Fool’s Day or on Halloween. Looking at students on the street wearing school uniforms makes one want to recall one’s memory of the school days.

   Currently in Korea, young adults and the middle-aged take up the biggest portion of the population. The biggest number of Koreans are in their young adulthood or midlife, but they are also the ones living the busiest and most unstable life. College students are worried about their future after graduation, while workers and businessmen struggle with pressure from the workplace.

   People tend to recall only the good parts of one’s life. However, when considering that all moments in life, whether good or bad, are the ones that make who I am today, they will all be priceless memories when time passes.

   People in their old days may feel as if their life is more often repetitive compared to their past years. They mostly do not have a job, and their life may seem tedious. However, those moments are as meaningful as the moments that people usually define as “youth.” Letting go of the once fierce and intense life while seeking composure and slowness would be something that one could not experience in the past.

 

   Various kinds of books are stored in bookshelves. Our memories become a set of books and surround us, allowing us to pick them up if we want to recall a memory from our past. Books that are difficult to find are memories that we cannot recall easily, and books that are easily found are ones that are vivid in our minds. When yesterday seems so far away, in a bookshelf of yesterdays, find a book called memory.

 

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   People of all ages have their own worlds where they are the protagonists. Likewise, they all have many moments to look back to and remember. Though every moment is indeed important as itself, what makes those moments even more precious is time. Even trivial things in the present become priceless as time goes by.