MARCH OF WISDOM

I am continually amazed at the lack of wisdom shown by men and women in government who control the levers of considerable power and influence. This week I listened to a former top official who was caught in public lying and leaking confidential information in violation of the clear ethics of the position he held in the government. He justified and further excused his behaviour with words that only magnified a lack of character and moral grounding. Listening to this I remembered an old saying I once read, attributed to an English king who said, “See my son with how little wisdom the world is ruled.”

The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about wisdom. A regular trip through its maxims is always a good refresher. Look at the opening words. “The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity; To give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion - A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel, to understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:1-7).

There is quite a mix of important words here. Words such as knowledge, instruction, understanding and wisdom. What he describes is a process we go through to gain the valued quality of wisdom. First comes knowledge, which is the raw data or information of a subject. We progress to instruction and understanding of how that data works and how to use it. Wisdom comes by the choices we make with the knowledge and understanding we gain through instruction.

The government official I mentioned in my opening had a lot of knowledge, understanding and policy to guide him in his duties. The lack of wisdom to understand how to handle the knowledge for the good of the position he held - and ultimately the welfare of the state he served - was his undoing. In the end his character was damaged and great harm was done to the government.