On Memorization

When I was in elementary school, we were required to memorize stuff.  To this day, whenever I have to change or cancel an important appointment, I mentally chant Shel Silverstein's "I Cannot Go to School Today."

"I cannot go to school today," said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps, a gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry.  I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks; I've counted sixteen chicken pox.
And there's one more - that's seventeen, and don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut, my eyes are blue - it might be the instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke; I'm sure that my left leg is broke.
My hip hurts when I move my chin.  My belly button's caving in.
My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained, my 'pendix pains each time it rains.
My toes are cold, my toes are numb, I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak, I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth, I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight, my temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear, there's a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is ...
What? What's that? What's that you say?  You say today is .............. Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

Love that poem.

It seemed like it would be more challenging to remember things at 41 than it was at 11.  After all, I've long held the belief that anything one can research on the internet in milliseconds is not worthy of memorizing.

However.

In Latin we use a textbook that often presents information in box-form.  Noun declensions and verb conjugations are laid out in tables, and whenever there's a table we have a quiz.  Then there's standard vocabulary lists that are presented differently now that we have some Latin experience.  For example, each verb now appears in it's true dictionary form, i.e., sum, esse, fui, futurus (to be).  Given that the four forms can be distinctly different from each other, it's important to memorize them.  So, now we've had quizzes on those verb forms. 

I like the quizzing.  It's forcing me to memorize. 

I like memorzing.  It stretches my brain in new directions. 

I like my ever expanding brain.  It functions like a ginormous file cabinet and gives me impressive recall.

I like recalling.  It's so much less time consuming than researching.  So when I come across a passage like this:

I can read it.

Memorizing gets easier the more frequently it's practiced.  For Mythology, we had a map test on Ancient Greece.  Studying those cities was like studying Greek.  But once I mastered the map, hearing the myths and stories in class was far more enjoyable because I had a mental image of where things occurred and how far a journey was.  On Monday we have a test on vase forms.  I didn't understand why it mattered which shape a vase was or what the Greeks used the various vases for, but I did like knowing the vase that's been used at church for the opening skits this Lent is a pelike. And I didn't have to do anything extraordinary to remember the name of that vase.

There was a time I was just happy to forget things.  Sad, painful things.  Hurtful things.  All the things that left my spirit in turmoil.

With a now peaceful spirit, I'm thankful for memories.  When my spirit is a peace, memory is just that, memory, and not a perpetual reliving of painful moments.

I wonder if this spiritual peace means I no longer have post-traumatic stress disorder.