Lately, I've been thinking that knowledge is a little bit like vaccines. A lot of them are one-and-done endeavors. You get them and never have to think about it again.
For example: I learned the alphabet and by golly, I never have to wonder if a letter is a D or an L. (Except occasionally when I'm trying to prove I'm not a robot by saying what letters I'm looking at in those cyber-security deals.)
But, for the most part...I just know it. That information is solidly stuck in my mind.
Gaps Forming
Then there are the things that seem to fall out of the brain when you're not looking.
I'm afraid that the areas of my waning expertise seem to be growing.
Mainly it's the kinds of knowledge that I rarely have the opportunity to trot out.
Mainly it's the kinds of knowledge that I rarely have the opportunity to trot out.
Geography
I've always loved geography. And I travel a lot. You'd think that would be information that stays with me.
But lately I've found myself thinking: Now which one is Vermont, and which one is New Hampshire? I double-check the information and create a mnemonic device for it. (Vermont is shaped like a V.). And then I think: Wait a minute! I don't think I made up that memory tool...I think I also learned that before.
I've taken the opportunity offered by the Covid-19 crises to test my skills. If you pull up a map of the World Health Organization maps you can test your knowledge. I decide what country I think it is, then hover over the country to see if I'm right. (Same thing with the CDC on the US States.) A little self-testing really brings it all back.
Mathematics
I'll calculate a percentage and suddenly think: Is that right? Can I just divide the 3 passengers who are angry and entitled by the total number of perfectly pleasant passengers in order to get the percentage of people I never want to see again?
Or, wait. Is that right? Did I just make that up?
When Michael and I went to Nebraska Furniture Mart to shop for a couch the salesperson kept saying how many inches they were. My brain was having a hard time quickly coming up with how many feet that made it.
That's when I realized my grasp of my twelve times table was leaving me. Luckily nowadays you can practice online.
I don't like to brag...but I am once again checked out on my twelvsies, and I have this nifty certificate to prove it!
New Word Alert
I just made up a new term that will come in handy when discussing this issue:
Schoolja vu (noun) - The feeling that one has learned something before.
This an extra-useful invention for me for two reasons:
1) I seem to be experiencing it more and more. Now I'll have an easy way to refer to it, and
2) I'm realizing that making up crap is a great alternative to actually remembering things.
Win-Win situation.
Daily Hits of Happy
-When things get dry in Texas, our patio fountain becomes a gathering place for all sorts of cute, thirsty creatures
-The other day I walked out and a vividly red cardinal flew from the fountain to the back of a chair. It sat there even as I started walking across the patio. As I got close to the fountain a blue jay took off from the other side, so for a moment, I was about 5' from both a cardinal and a blue jay. Two of my favorite birds at once!
-When I told Michael about the experience he immediately said it was too bad there wasn't a white dove so I'd have red, white and blue birds together.
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"To acquire knowledge, one must study;
but to acquire wisdom, one must observe."
- Marilyn vos Savant
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"Never regard study as a duty
but as an enviable opportunity to
learn to know the liberating influence
of beauty in the realm of the spirit
for your own personal joy
and to the profit of the community
to which your later works belong."
-Albert Einstein
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"Study hard, for the well is deep,
and our brains are shallow."
-Richard Baxter
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