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2 I The Best Online Education System in the world
WISDOM=KNOWLEDGE + JUDGMENT
Kathlyn Q. Barrozo
Class of 1991, University of Santo Tomas
B.S. Medical Technology
When virtue and objective come together, we attain wisdom. Being wise is having the ability to know the
difference between things and acting accordingly. One can be intelligent, but the ability to use that intelligence
at the proper context takes experience and a whole lot of trial and error in the process. To be wise is to be able
to understand things at varying perspectives, not just knowing a lot of things.
In this modern world, many have been able to accumulate tremendous amounts of knowledge. They are able
to pursue higher studies, work at prime jobs and become leaders. However, it is sad when these individuals fail
to optimize their knowledge and amass wisdom. They simply fail to temper their intelligence with common
sense, or worse yet, they become arrogant of their erudition and forget their humanity. Thus, they fail
miserably at gaining wisdom at a faster rate than earning money.
Still, there are some people that are able to make decisions by using both knowledge and wisdom. They know
which decisions work best for all concerned, and unselfishly pursue noble purposes in their day-to-day lives.
They never see logic in making hard decisions very quickly. Such wise people look at all angles of a story before
passing judgment. Such individuals are willing to wait for the right time to come, knowing that haste makes
waste. For them, it’s always worth being wise. They are confident in the knowledge that they possess, but are
readily able to temper down conceit with sensible judgment.
It has long been said that with age comes wisdom. Well, I have seen many an old person in my time that seem
not to have gained any wisdom from living up to their age. People who do not learn from the lessons of their
past but continue making the same mistakes over and over seem not to gain wisdom from history. Experience
is the best teacher they say, but for these people, it would probably take a whole lot of negative experiences to
teach them to reorient their perspectives.
We need to derive lessons from what we experience. Those lessons help us know better and know more,
adding to our arsenal of knowledge. Thus, with various facts and figures present in our reservoir, we begin to
form sense and sensibility. We can begin to formulate and reformulate our considerations in life. Whatever is
negative or not helpful, we should learn to discard. Accumulating too much garbage is harmful, right? In the
same manner, if we keep too many negative feelings, for instance, bottled up inside, we might never find our
way to true wisdom. Learn from experience, and move on as soon as you can. That helps us achieve wisdom.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. Define wisdom.
2. Why is it easier to amass knowledge than wisdom?
3. Do you find it easy to make judgments? Why or why not?
4. Talk about specific situations in your life when your wisdom was put to the test.
5. How do you personally accumulate wisdom?