Look before you leap

As the year draws to a close many of us will probably be thinking ahead to 2011 and praying as hard as we can for our political, social and business leaders to have wisdom enough for this country to prosper in an atmosphere of peace, tranquillity and morality.

The fact that not just this country but the world at large is so devoid of peace, tranquillity and especially morality suggests that there is not too much wisdom around these days.

Certainly, it seems to me that today almost everyone in power far prefers greed and wealth over wisdom. Unlike the Jesuits, for whom wisdom is a stock in trade.

I remember reading some time ago about one Jesuit in particular who was a wonderful storyteller and from whom politicians, business managers and parents could learn a thing or two about wisdom.

Fr Anthony de Mello spent much of his life in India and delighted in local folklore. His favourite story was about an old farmer who had only one horse that he used for tilling his fields. One day it escaped into the hills.

The farmer’s neighbours sympathised over his bad luck to which the farmer replied: “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”

A week later his horse reappeared leading a herd of wild horses down the hills. The farmer’s neighbours congratulated him on his good luck.

“Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?” said the farmer.

A week later, when his son was trying to tame one of the wild horses, he fell and broke his leg. Everyone thought that was really bad luck. Again he responded with “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”

A month later the army marched in and conscripted every able-bodied youth in the community with the exception of the fellow with the broken leg. Before his neighbours could get a word in edgewise the farmer gave them the “Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?” treatment.

And so Fr de Mello’s story continued. However, as Jesuit priests are not constricted by space and time as I am, I’ll have to cut the long story short and get to the point a lot quicker than he did.

The moral of the story is that the farmer was relying on his gift of wisdom to allow time to tell whether any of these incidents turned out at the end to be good or bad luck.

What can we learn from all this? Well, first of all it, it might be a lesson to all those who tend to indulge in knee-jerk decision-making to first take a breath, count to ten, and think about what they’re doing.

The story also lends credence to that well-worn cliché of travelling salesmen: “Hey, that’s not a problem; that’s an opportunity.” Sounds corny, I know, but those who practise this maxim are doing nothing more than applying their gift of wisdom. Something everybody has but of which few seem to make any use.

Another lesson might be for those who believe that today’s world is the domain of youth and that anyone over the age of 50 should be put out to pasture.

One thing is for sure: That farmer wasn’t exactly a teenager and perhaps what he was demonstrating to his impetuous neighbours was that life, business, politics, sport—you name it—is best pursued by combining the exuberance of youth with the wisdom of age.

Generally speaking, wisdom improves with age and is priceless in terms of not re-inventing wheels nor making the same old mistakes.

As the 19th Century English cleric, writer and collector Charles Caleb Colton said: “It is better to have wisdom without learning than to have learning without wisdom. Just as it is better to be rich without being the possessor of a mine, than to be the possessor of a mine without being rich.”

The most valuable component of wisdom is that it tends to overcome selfish perspectives—one of the most virulent cancers of society and which hampers productivity, personal growth and heaven knows how many other things. Not to mention one of the most gregarious feeders that gnaw away at governments, society, business and family life.

People such as business managers, for example, who simply cannot bring themselves to praise good work by those below them, lack the wisdom of knowing that saying “thank you” is not exposing a weakness in themselves, but cementing a bond of loyalty and motivation.

Wisdom, of course, is also great for keeping one out of trouble. Wisdom foresees consequence.

Such as the happily married Scot who was accosted by a prostitute on his way home from work one night. “Och, wouldya sleep wi’ me for ten pound Jimmie?”

“Aye, I could use th’ money”, he said, “but I’m nae tired.”

May your new year be filled with wisdom.