Wisdom & Knowledge - Chapter 1

As a child I had an idea, that education had the power to change everything, you make people aware of a problem in our system and they would work towards solving it. It wasn’t until later that my bubble broke and I was forced to ask the question “Does knowledge make you wise?” Contrary to my belief: No.

Yes knowledge is one of the greatest tools mankind has been blessed with, the knowledge to read, use tools, develop technologies and what not have brought humanity a long way from where we stood years ago and that’s changing exponentially even today. But we forgot something else we read on our books: the right to equality for all, the right to choose, sustainable development, non-renewable resources to name a few. That’s where wisdom kicks in. Knowledge can make aware; its information whereas wisdom is using that knowledge to make a decision that would serve a goal. It’s same as the difference between a technology being there and the invention which ultimately used the technology.

Deep down we are aware of things that are wrong around us or maybe unknowingly even we are a part of. It all comes down to what we can do about it. We all know that vehicles running on petroleum based fuels are harmful so why don’t we replace them with cycles or walking when we can. I am not asking you to take a cycle to a job interview 10 kms from your place in 38 degree temperature but to a grocery store a km from your place: reduce the carbon footprint & save a few bucks; that’s a profitable deal.

Dignity is the right of every person, right from the CEO of a company to the guy working for a street vendor. We sub consciously have formed a belief that it’s okay to give up on the pleasantries if a person is doing his/her job; like scolding the customer care person who you called to complain despite the fact that you know that he/she wasn’t the one at fault there. We feel that if the other person has a job to be polite to you it gives you the right to not be so. Why? The simplest means to see where you may be doing something wrong is to be in the shoes of the person opposite to you. Paying for something doesn’t make it right to mistreat a person, that’s slavery. So the next time when you have a complaint with a company, consider the person on call to be standing in front of you rather than just a voice on the call.

To be continued........