Words of Wisdom.

I overheard a conversation between an older gentleman, and I use the word gentleman in its sincerest form, because it seemed to me that was exactly what he was, and a younger man. The older man ended by saying a couple of lines from a poem.

As he walked away the younger man turned to his friend, “What does he know, the old coffin dodger?” Does he not know I have a degree, who does he think he is trying to tell me something? So it went on until I left the two standing waiting to pay for their alcohol carry out.

I had heard the poem many times and can remember when I had to learn it off by heart and be able to stand in front of all my classmates and repeat it.

Those were the days when we thought that if it was learned off by heart we had learned something. We learned math tables and all sorts of things. The government see to want to reintroduce method of learning to schools again.

The amount of information learned and stored is never a measure of the learning. It is possible to have a mind so full of information that we fail to sort and manage it. It is possible to have a mountain of information and no wisdom.

In the words, I heard in the conversation the older man was not just telling what he knew he was also sharing a wealth of experience that had made sense of what he had learned.

I came out of university with a head full of knowledge but very quickly realised that my father, who had never had such an experience had probably forgotten more than I had learned.

There are one or two things I have discovered about education learning and wisdom that are well worthy of a moments thought, I think.

Children do not care what you until they know that you care. A student or friend may not always remember what you told them but they will remember how you made them feel.

If after you have heard a poem and you then look at the world and for a moment it looks just like the poem you can be sure that the person sharing the poem had learned about wisdom and life. The same goes for a painting if the artist has made you see something different the artist has succeeded in sharing his knowledge.

Wisdom and learning is not simply a mental process but it is the all about sorting out what is important for yourself and those around you.

Politicians and educators can have all the words but if they do not have a real desire to understand the needs of others they would be best keeping their counsel.

Now, what was it I was going to say?  Have a good day.