They (those mythical experts), say with age comes
wisdom. I am not convinced this is true,
but for now let’s assume it is. My
question then is, at what age does the younger generation have enough wisdom to
determine which values of their elders they should cast aside and which they
should retain?
It seems obvious the answer must recognize that wisdom and
knowledge are not synonymous and one may have knowledge without wisdom. But can one have wisdom, without
knowledge? That question seems to be
harder to answer. It also seems obvious
that knowledge must come from the world, learned from parents and family,
teachers, friends, trusted public personalities, books (or now the world-wide
web), and observation. Wisdom, though is
something beyond knowledge.
“Knowledge
and wisdom, far from being one, have oft-times no connection. Knowledge dwells in heads replete with
thoughts of other men; wisdom, in minds attentive to their own. Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass, the mere
materials with which wisdom builds, till smooth’d and squar’d and fitted to its
place, does but encumber whom it seems t’enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learn’d so
much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.”
William
Cowper (1731-1800) The Task, 6.88, 1785[i]
Aldous Huxley, in his essay Censorship and Spoken
Literature, published in 1956, wrote “Ours
is a world in which knowledge accumulates and wisdom decays.”[ii] The events of the past 20 years have, for me,
solidified the accuracy of Huxley’s statement.
In the 1960’s and 70’s, when my generation was coming of age, we were full of knowledge and ideas on how to make the world better. We were inspired by the science that sought
to take us to the stars, embarrassed by the racism that existed in America, and
alienated by a war that seemed to have no end, yet sought to send our young off
to die in a war with no clear road to victory.
Yet here we are some forty years later, with my generation in charge and
surrounded by the same problems we had as young men and women. Where did we fail to translate knowledge into
wisdom?
For eight years, we had a President who was extremely
popular with his supporters, the press, and the liberal establishment. He was 47 when elected, yet he
was surrounded by people my age and older.
In the course of his administration what did he and his party
accomplish? Was he, and his party, able
to translate their vision of a more equitable America into a reality? Was he personally able to translate his
knowledge into the wisdom necessary to unite the country and end our wars? Did he and his administration show the wisdom to consider all the social
implications of casting aside the bias and concerns of a large portion of
society, as they rushed to appease the vocal minorities?
Why not?
Why not?
The unfortunate reality of the past administration was the
creation of conditions that led directly to the current administration. As much as his supporters would deny this,
the facts are inescapable. We, the people
of the United States, when asked to cast our ballot in November, cast enough of
them in enough different places to bring in an outsider who refused to conform
to the political expectations of either party.
The other unfortunate reality is the current President, his
administration, and all his opponents seem no more capable of translating knowledge
into wisdom than the previous one. Bringing me back to my original question.
When do we have the wisdom to know what is right for the whole, or when the rights of the one outweigh the rights of the many?
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