Wisdom is the ability to judge correctly and to follow the best course of action, based on knowledge and understanding. It provides the ability to differentiate between the two and choose the one that is best. Wisdom can also be defined as someone with: common sense, intelligence, prudence, logic and judgment.
Does wisdom come with age or life experiences?
Though many take it that wisdom comes with age, in many instances, wisdom does not really come with age but on what one is exposed to in life.
As you acquire more experience about life and what life is about, you gain wisdom. Though there have also been lots of beliefs embodied on people that wisdom comes with age, this is not usually the case. There are lots of grown up folks out there who are not wise and young folks who are very wise.
With age, usually comes more experience. However, experience is usually the main factor of wisdom.
The more experience you have with mistakes (and solving them) the more it “produces” wisdom.
We are here to learn so experiment, experience and LEARN from your mistakes. This will help in the wisdom-gaining process.
I personally believe that with each day and each year we can learn to become wiser. As we acquire more experience about life and what life is all about, we gain wisdom.
However, we often ignore the teachings that life offers us. Because of the firm belief that we have about it coming with age, we tend to ignore some situations where we learn from our youngsters.
It also comes from a mixture of age and experience. The older you get, the more experience you get. You really need to experience things to have a true insight into them but also as you get older you can have a better understanding of the world around you.
Being open to new ideas and genuinely caring about learning and understanding things will set you on the right path. Something new is learned everyday and the older you get the more wisdom you can pass on to the younger folks, such as your sons and grand children.
Kefilwe Ramohube, a student at UB, explained that just because one is old doesn’t mean they are wise, especially nowadays.
She asserted that wisdom has more to do with willingness to keep learning and humbly accepting correction.
“From a Christian wisdom comes the fear of the Lord and accepting God’s values for everyday living. Wisdom is also a rare commodity nowadays,” she added.
Tshepho, a resident in Gaborone, shared the same sentiments, noting that age is not really critical for one to gain wisdom. He said that it all depends on what one is exposed to in life.
“It depends on what you are exposed to as an individual in life and then your attitudes groom you into becoming wiser,” he said.
He added that though we expect to get it as we grow older and older in life, age is usually not critical.
Acquiring wisdom may also not be from the happiest moments in your life. It’s also learned from all the tough experiences.
