Friday, October 31, 2014

Education And Wisdom

Education gives you knowledge but life gives you wisdom.  Many of the people I have interviewed for jobs and some of the people who work with me now are better educated than I am.   Their formal education, however, is just a starting point.  It is the foundation on which their life experience will build.  I am a strong advocate of education.  I think it separates people more than anything, including race or gender.  I wish now that I had given my education more attention when I was younger.  Hopefully the experience of life makes us wiser but that is not guaranteed.  Not all older people are wise and not all younger people naive.  In the Rule of St Benedict, a 1500 year old guidebook for monasteries, the old are told to listen to the young for God often speaks through them.  Likewise, the young are told to treat their elders with respect.  Those of us who are a little older can learn from the young.  It happens to me almost every day at work.  Those who are younger should also realize that their parents and other older people are not clueless.  We've been down many roads in our lives and we have experienced many things that might prove helpful for those who have yet to have these experiences.  The bottom line is that you should never should stop learning or acquiring wisdom.  To be a truly educated person, you must be open to everything that books and life teaches you.  In addition, you must remember that education is also more than just having a skill.  An educated person is a thinking person who can see the connectedness of life and who can apply the knowledge they have to situations they encounter as life unfolds.  In a team situation within the workplace the combination of different people’s wisdom, knowledge, and skills can make all of us successful as we tackle our daily challenges.

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