Once again, the Cardinals won last Saturday, sweeping the Padres to advance to the National League Championship Series. The expression "They're on a roll" was invented for times like these. What a team!

The Astros will probably put up a fight for the N.L. championship. But I think the Redbirds have the clear advantage. If so, the question is all about who St. Louis will be playing in the World Series. Provided the Cardinals bother to show up for this one, I'd thoroughly enjoy watching them take down the Yankees. But then, the Yankees haven't made it to the ALCS yet. We'll see what happens tonight. Stay tuned.

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"The essence of pleasure does not lie in the thing enjoyed, but in our attitude to it. The person who rejoices in simplicity will find no pleasure in riches. If the simple person asks for a glass of water, and receives the finest wine in the costliest chalice, it will not give pleasure, but pain. We shall enjoy the greatest pleasure in this life if we learn to love the simplest things."

--Soren Kierkegaard

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I recently read that teachers should "emphasize understanding over memorization." The phrase consciously avoids a false dichotomy, while leaning in that direction. It made me wonder why the writer's experience and observation and conviction is so different from mine.

I'm thankful that my mother and some great teachers of mine didn't think that memorization and learning have little in common. Fact is, in so many cases I've been truly caught by those things that were repeated in my presence so often, or that I said so many times, they became a part of me and shaped me from the inside out. Those things that I can repeat, that I've sought to apprehend through the dreaded route of rote memorization, are what control my imagination as much as anything else.

I wonder, What would I do, and who would I be without . . .

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

"For God so loved the world, . . .

"The Lord is my shepherd . . .

"He who did not spare his own son, . . .

"On Zion's glorious summit stood . . .

"Love divine, all love excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down . .

. . . And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep"

How about you? What words, what lines are a permanent part of your psyche?