Remembering

We had our year-end (i.e. end of the school year) mass this morning. The priest gave an interesting homily, but what I remembered most especially is when he defined learning based on Homer. To put it simply, he said that one has learned when one has remembered. He makes a point saying that not simply because you have memorized something means that you have learned something. It is what we remember that we learn best. We remember words of wisdom that we hear from our teachers without exerting the effort to memorize. That's learning. When I remembered what the priest say about remembering, I have learned something new. Reflecting on it, I asked myself, "what did my students remember from what I have taught them?" Is it the scoldings I gave them? Is it just the movies and games that we had during the school year? Whatever it is they remember from me, are they essential enough? It's funny how our mind, our intellect, our spirit gets to choose what it wants to remember. Our minds may remember the good and as well as the bad.

Now, will we clear up some space in our memory by deleting the bad ones to replace them with good ones?