Knowledge and memory

Thought a lot lately about how I am able to recall knowledge, understanding that once stored, it really should be always there. But it is not. Somehow it relates to memory, ability to recall. Now, if I were a psychology major, I'd probably know more about this but I am not. So, this is just Chuck talking, ChuckOThoughts, that is. (Actually, I did take a little psychology classroom, but I don't remember much about it.)

Why is it that I cannot remember certain things that I know I once knew? Like names. Saw a fellow at breakfast (two in fact) who came up to me and I could not remember the name. One of them I worked with for at least four years at the local paper; the other I mixed with quite a bit but that was a few years ago. Yet... there are things I learned a long time ago, that I would classify as just knowledge, that I can still recall.

As a kid I learned, put to memory, the books of the Bible - all 66 of them (that is the protestant Bible, some call it. I can still repeat all the books from Genesis to Revelation. Imagine that. Fifty years ago, as a Navy air traffic controller trainee, I put to memory a saying to identify light beacons for pilots along a planned route or flight. There were ten, and then they would start over - When Undertaking Very Hard Routes Keep Directions By Good Methods. So, why can I remember all such as that and I cannot remember like a person's name? I don't know.

Certainly there are a lot of other things I remember, too, and frequently or perhaps infrequently apply. These are too numerous to mention. Knowing which direction to turn a nut off a bolt comes in handy occasionally. No need to go on. Surely I convey what I am trying to list.

I learned to ride a bike and swim as a children. Even though I have not done either for decades I have no doubt but what I could swim today and ride a bike. Not sure why that is, when I can't remember other things. Further, usually if I drive to some location before unknown, I can just about do it again anytime.

Perhaps being able to recall or do has to do with how I applied it - somehow, but I cannot explain it. That bothers me lately. Perhaps it should not. But it is just a thing I thought I would express thought about - ChuckOThoughts, that is all.