Slipping

Is my brain going because of age, or is it going because I know there is Google?

Yesterday morning I was thinking about a pamphlet from 200+ years ago and couldn't remember the title or author.  I knew what the pamphlet was about, that it was widely disseminated in the Colonies, that it helped steel the country during a trying time of the Revolutionary War, and the author later turned out to be too much of a firebrand and a jerk and this ended up being his one really big contribution to the world and Liberty.

I am talking about (I since looked it up) Common Sense by Thomas Paine.

30 years ago I'd have thumbed through my 1974 edition of World Book.  One of the greatest things I had growing up.  I know now, Dad, how dang expensive that was for a C&P Telephone man to fork over for, but it was worth it.  My father was not a 'reader' like my mom, but he did know some things.  This and repeated SAT prep tests were two biggees.  I would not be who I am without those.

Anyway, I can't help but thing that 15 years ago I just would have KNOWN all that stuff.  Thomas Paine, Common Sense, and the details of his biography.  And I am worried I don't know them now.  If I am using the internet as a crutch, that is one thing.  If the internet went away I could adjust back, easily.  I just took a certification class for work.  I was always good at taking tests.  But it's been 25 years since I did.  And it's no longer #2 pencils on Scantron.  But that old skill came back to me, much to my relief. 

But is my memory going?  It's one of my most precious possessions and the easiest to carry.  That would really really suck.