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Millions of Bodies with War Memoirs
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Are words the only conduit for transferring memories of the past? Are memories only doomed to being spoken and heard of? Can other human parts be helpful in carrying memories? Finding the precise answer to these questions can lead us to the boundless treasury of Iranian's memories of far and recent past, especially of the Sacred Defense era. Simply put, memories are kept in the brain and are articulated through tongues and the mouth; however, an in-depth look can yield more detailed answers. Memories are not only oral, they can as well be written, meaning that besides the tongue, fingers can be engaged in the transcription of memories by means of modern or traditional stationery like pens, pencils or the keyboard. Therefore, in addition to speaking, tactile sense, especially of the finger tips, can occasionally convey human experiences. Furthermore, other organisms can play a part in reception and storing of memories, on the one hand, and transfer of such data to others, on the other. Eyes are the primary tool for reception of memories and their transfer to the brain; ears receive sounds, voices, phones, tones, speeches and dialogues, and send the data to the brain for stockpiling as well.
The mouth, tongue and sense of tasting are crucial for the brain to record specific types of memories regarding tastes, foods and internal or external bodily activities under various mental or physical conditions, and then to retrieve them when needed. Herein, olfactory receptors should not be overlooked. The organs are responsible for receiving data about how things smell. The tactile sense should be once again tackles as it is the way we feel pains, damages, lacerations, burns, stings, itches and tens of other similar feelings which can bring about memories for humans.
Regarding all human body capacities to retain memories, one can more easily imagine the size of the invaluable, permanent and tangible data a veteran of the Iraq-imposed war on Iran carries with him after serving in the war fronts; how much historical, social, military, cultural, corporal, spiritual, emotional, human and ethical memories and information does a comrade carry?
When recording a soldier's war stories for our national memory, utmost care should be taken to elicit and record as many as possible aspects of their stories; the stories which are drawn from one's mind and memory, life and body, soul and spirit and all senses and organs.
When recording comrades' recollections, the memories of the smell of gunpowder, the burning of a sting from a scorpion or southern mosquitoes, the itching of bodies, the biting cold, the stinking smell of corpses, the roughness of shelter sand bags, the sleeping on bulwark rubble, the cries and laughter of the comrades, the bitter or sweet smell of chemical bombs and thousands of other issues should be stirred.
Jafar Golshan Rowghani
Translated by: Abbas Hajihashemi
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