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What takes you down memory lane ?.
Is it just me or have you ever suddenly had a flashback because of something you saw with your eyes, felt with your skin or heard with your ears .
You know, there are some moments when you hear or see something and you say to yourself ",This reminds me of years back ...."
This was my experience some days back as I walked home from work. It was a calm and cold evening and the streets were bare as everyone had entered there houses to seek warmth. As I walked past the streets, I heard a song, one of my old favorites by "Mali Music" , it took me down memory lane, it made me remember years back when I was faced with a harrowing ordeal and all I had to comfort myself was the song.
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It was a time when I was consumed with fear and gloom because I thought I would die. I was going through a lot but didn't speak up, I only found solace in a song titled "I shall live" by Sharon Riley and faith chorale ft Mali Music. I remember how I played the song everytime and everywhere and it brought me hope and strength.
It was in the year 2014, during the outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus in my country Nigeria and in west Africa. Ebola was a dreaded virus disease. The Ebola virus could kill in days , It had a 50% fatality rate and had no cure or vaccine at the time. The worst of it all was that it was easily transmissible and very contagious and it had symptoms similar to the everyday disease and sicknesses people always fell ill with. The symptoms were so many and amongst them were ;
fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, sore-throat,vomiting, diarrhoea, rash,
sometimes blood oozing from nose or gum or stool, etc.
The country was in panic and everyone was filled with fear.
I always watched the news everyday and the Ebola virus was the Major story of every news. The stories were always about how the virus was spreading fast in some other west African countries or how it was killing hundreds everyday. I would always watch as hundreds of people were carried in body bags to be given a mass burial.
I was taking-in these messages daily and didn't think of the negative effects, I didn't know taking in so much of such information could mess with the mind.
A time came when it was announced that a case of the Ebola virus had been recorded in my State, it was also said that the recorded case was in my neighborhood. It was at this point that things fell apart. The fear increased. All the videos and news I had always watched and heard about how this virus was easily transmissible and how it had killed people started to play in my mind and at some point began tormenting me.
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Things got critical after some days when I saw myself manifesting the symptoms of this deadly disease. I became completely devastated and dejected, I was being tormented daily by my own thoughts and the fear and panic even increased more. I couldn't tell anyone about what I was going through because I didn't want to be isolated or taken to any medical facility. During those times life turned sour and ugly, and nothing meant anything to me anymore.
When it seemed like everywhere was dark and hopeless, I found solace in a song . That day, I was playing some songs randomly through my phone while I lay on my bed wallowing in thought. At some point I heard this wonderful and soothing song/words. It was just what I needed to hear at the moment, it was as if I was being recharged , it appealed to my being and gave me some sort of warmth and comfort. I immediately became strengthened and I began remembering the promises of God.
I had to put the song on repeat and in no distant time it had sank deep into my head and a war began in my mind. The already deep seated thoughts of pessimism were now being neutralized by the rays of Hope and Faith that stemmed from the rythm and lyrics of the song.
I let the song play so much that the only thing I could hear in my head was the chorus of the song
"I shall live, I shall live and not die, live, I shall live.
I shall live, I shall live and not die, live, I shall live".
Weeks later, It later turned out that I had malaria and after a few weeks, it was also announced in the news that the virus had been successfully contained and there was no other case of it in the country.
This long forgotten memory suddenly resurfaced because of this song I heard that day. I checked my phone and realized that I no longer had that song. I had to go and download the song again and when I decided to write down this post, I had to play the song once again. The more I played it, the more the memory became vivid and it facilitated my writing.
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I have come to realize how music holds memories, how it can facilitate remembrance and how our memories can be tied to certain rythm and music. I have now decided to incorporate music in most of my doings,I have decided to make sure I play music in my family hangout, friends reunion and every event I think is important and worth remembering
Music is a comforter and indeed brings memories. Have you have had such recall of events because of a song/sound you heard ??
