Wisdom Connection

The purpose of this post is to examine what wisdom is as I attempt to connect its definition to the service learning that I will be performing this fall. Every person has an idea about what the word wisdom means, but many people do not know what the definition truly is. The fact is, the definition of wisdom is so broad that it is unique to every individual. The prevailing idea of what a wise person looks like is an elderly man or woman who has experienced many things in his or her lifetime and is willing to share knowledge or recommendations to younger generations. In reality, wisdom is not contained to the elderly or experienced members of society. Every person possesses wisdom, even in the simplest form. Wisdom is the state of having knowledge or experiences and then applying them to everyday life. This definition allows every person in society regardless of age to possess wisdom. Wisdom is all around us in society today. By simply observing a single person or a community as a whole, we can increase our knowledge.

I have experienced over three years of classroom learning at Loras College, but I would not consider myself a wise man. I feel as though the breadth of my knowledge has increased since my first college experience in my MOI class. My MOI class was centered on the topic of Socrates and his trial and death. Much of the class focused on what the definition of justice really was and what it meant to be a wise person. I remember entering the class and not knowing what to expect from a college course and being unprepared for the complexity of the material. Answering questions in class was done just to be able to finish the course and I forgot much of the material soon afterwards. I did not possess the concept of reading material to understand and instead simply read to say that I had finished assignments. I read Plato’s “The Apology of Socrates” in that first college class and only remember that it was centered on Socrates’ trial and sentencing to death. At that early stage in my college career, I was unable to understand many of the concepts that Plato was trying to portray. Class discussions were filled with confusion as I was amazed at what other students were able to pull from the readings when I was barely able to understand the basic plot. After three years, I believe I have learned to look at the deeper meanings within literature and understand why works were written. Many of the honors classes that I have taken between these two classes have taught me to understand why authors wrote certain works throughout history and the overall message that they were trying to express. From this second reading I was able to pull from Socrates’ comments that the idea of wisdom was the main focus of the work. Socrates was considered by many to be the wisest man in society, yet he considered himself not to be wise. Socrates understood that men were inherently not as wise as they thought themselves to be and thus they were unable to utilize much of the wisdom that they did possess. I believe that the main argument to be taken from “The Apology of Socrates” is that wisdom is possessed by every person, but can only be considered wisdom if the person does not realize that they are being wise.

All of this discussion on wisdom connects to the service that I will be performing in the Washington Neighborhood. I will be spreading the knowledge that I have gained at Loras College onto others. I will also be gaining knowledge from the people I will be working with because they will be spreading their wisdom onto me. I will not only have the chance to apply what I have learned while completing my undergraduate degree; I will also be gaining knowledge that I would have never gained if I was contained in a classroom environment. The intake of knowledge from the experiences of others is a constant process in all societies and a main reason for the betterment of cultures and countries that is continually taking place.