The theory of weak convergence has developed into an extensive and useful, but technical, subject. One of its most important applications is in the study of empirical distribution functions: the explication of the asymptotic behavior of the Kolmogorov goodness-of-fit statistic is one of its greatest successes. In this article a simple method for understanding this aspect of the subject is sketched. The starting point is Doob's heuristic approach to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov theorems, and the rigorous justification of that approach offered by Donsker. The ideas can be carried over to other applications of weak convergence theory.
