Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. It may not be difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of facts within a comparatively short time, but the ability to form judgments requires the severe discipline of hard work and the tempering heat of experience and maturity. —Calvin Coolidge
I know I will never win any awards for being the brightest person in the room, but I was touched and humbled one day when a friend told me that I did have something valuable: wisdom. Now and then I think about the meaning of wisdom, and I think Coolidge sums it up perfectly.
A person can learn a lot of “stuff” and have the ability to rattle off data and ideas and ideologies. But too often in these times, I think that many people have only a superficial understanding about the meaning or relevance of what they are saying. For example, a smart person can rattle off the ideology of Marxism, but have no idea of the catastrophic impact of adopting such a set of beliefs. Another person will opine on the devastating results of man-made climate change without having any idea of the sophisticated challenges that have discounted the validity of its premises.
I’ve also discovered that some of the people who appear very bright and are in high-level professions are unable to discriminate between ideas that only support their belief system, and other ideas that present an alternate, sensible viewpoint that should at least be considered. Although I’m often a bit embarrassed when I’ve been shown to be wrong, I am almost always grateful to know the facts, and more importantly, the truth. Reaching that new conclusion may take some rumination on my part, but it’s always worth the effort.
I’ve been blessed to have a number of wise people in my life, including several friends on Ricochet. In my personal life there are my husband and my friends Karen and Eileen. I often look to them when clarity eludes me.
Who are the people in your life whom you look to for wisdom?
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