In the Absence of Wisdom

I did not submit an article last week. When it was time for me to turn in my article, I looked into my digital wallets and there was nothing. I was broke literarily speaking. I have a good excuse though; some friends from Poland and Oklahoma were in town for the NCAA Final Four and I was catching up with them, hanging out, and chauffeuring. Was I supposed to ignore them and start writing? Of course, these are all excuses. We will always find excuses if we look for them. 

The bigger reason I did not write was because I did not feel like writing. What's the point of all my writing anyway? I want to be wise, I wish to be wise, I hope to be wise, I plan to be wise and I am still not yet wise. I am not wise. I still make stupid decisions. The wisdom I seek has been elusive. I do know that wisdom is practically impossible at my age. Wisdom requires perspective, and I don't have the life experiences and insights to be wise. In the absence of wisdom, I am acquiring the next best thing, knowledge. You may wonder, what is the big deal about wisdom? Why read? Why the huge emphasis on learning? 

Wisdom makes life simpler, more meaningful and a lot more enjoyable. There are some goals I am spending my time and energy pursuing right now that wisdom will show to be fool's errands. Wisdom helps us to know then what we know now. We can all look back at our lives and see the folly in some of our past actions; that is what wisdom does. Wisdom gives us the perspective to better make decisions. Reading helps us acquire knowledge, learn from other people's experiences and see life from completely different perspectives. These gained knowledge, experiences and perspectives when refined in our experience leads to wisdom.

For example, I was introduced to the concept of an "Ah counter" in Toastmasters a couple years ago. An "Ah counter" counts how many times you use fillers like "ah", "hmm", "like", and "so" in your speech. Take note of how many times to use these words in your speech the next two days. Reading this will make you aware of those fillers in your own experience and then you can decide what to do with that awareness. You have learned from my experience at Toastmasters by reading this post. Imagine how much more important information you can get from reading books by people who have been where you are going.

Do I feel like writing now? I started writing what I felt and then I felt like writing. And what's the point of all my writing? Some books and articles I have read, some experiences I have had and some conversations I have had could be useful to one or two people and that's enough reason to keep writing. How can I avoid being literarily broke. I'll start saving articles for rainy days so I have articles for days when I don't have as much time.

Here's my article for the week. Have a great week and share your experience with someone that needs it. You may not feel like you've done much in life, but there are people (especially younger folks) that could learn from your experience.