Walk of wisdom: what exactly is wisdom?
About a yellow bike and a thick hoody
Do you know the Walk of Wisdom? This is a long-distance walking path, a modern pilgrimage route of about 150 kilometers around Nijmegen. The route invites you to set your feet in motion and at the same time give your mind space. While I was walking one of the stages of this walking route, the question came to me: what is wisdom?
You can ask such questions to a wise person, no, not a person actually, but something that talks like a person… or something like that…: Chat GPT. To my question; what is wisdom, Chat GPT answers -and I quote literally- Ah, the classic question. “What is wisdom?”, that’s one that philosophers have been racking their brains over for centuries. To put it simply: wisdom is the ability to judge well and act correctly on the basis of knowledge, experience, and insight. So much for Chat GPT.
Wisdom is thus described as the ability to judge well and to act rightly. But then again, what is actually good? And what is correct? Children often have a completely different standard of what is good or right than adults. Their open-mindedness sometimes puts them in the most hilarious situations. For example, when my niece was four years old, she decided that it was wise to cycle on her own on her little yellow bicycle from Boxmeer to her grandparents in Sint Anthonis. Perky she pedaled across the Saxe Gotha industrial estate, towards the large roundabout. She did not cross the road, because she thought it was too dangerous. As she drove under the viaduct, she shouted as loud as she could: “Grandpa and grandma, I’m coming!” Was this wise? According to my niece YES, she still wanted to go to grandpa and grandma, and she was very wise, not crossed. Was this wise according to all adults in the Netherlands: NO, of course not, it was life-threatening.
And my son, (an enterprising child who slipped out of the house before he could walk and was found thumbing up on the Sambeekse Grotestraat. Who on his first day at primary school de Bolster was already swinging on the highest sphere of the climbing frame and when our house was in scaffolding because of a paint job, climbed down through the window via the same scaffolding) thought it was a wise idea to crawl on the roof of the same Sambeek school while playing hide and seek. A place where he was certainly not found by his searching comrade. The perfect place you would think, but was this wise? At least not according to the concerned teacher who called me about the incident.
Adolescents also have their own definition of wisdom, one that is often at odds with that of their parents. For example, as a parent, you think it is very wise to ask questions at an information evening at school when something is not entirely clear. Well, believe me, according to a teenager this is a mortal sin and you are really not wise if you do that. What adolescents, on the other hand, think is very wise? Putting empty suits back in the fridge, lining the bedroom floors with dirty or clean laundry, putting on a thick hoody at thirty degrees, but leaving the house without a coat when it freezes. And of course especially not responding to their mother’s texts or phone calls.
In search of an even wiser answer to the question of what wisdom actually means, I consult another source of information: Wikipedia. There I read that wisdom or wisdom of life is the art of judging and acting correctly in all circumstances of life. All living conditions? Gosh, there are quite a few. Isn’t life wisdom just knowing that one sock always disappears in the washing machine, that smoke detectors invariably beep at night when the battery is empty. That you are guaranteed to spill if you are wearing a white blouse. That the traffic light always turns red when you’re in a hurry. And that the checkout line you choose is without exception the slowest? One of these wisdoms certainly includes the case of football gear stress. When my boys came home to VV Sambeek after a football match or training in their youth, nine out of ten times there was an app in the team’s group app: who has my training jacket? I’m missing a football boot or I have one too many blue socks in my bag.
Just to be sure, I check the old wise Van Dale, who says: 1 being wise; insight and reason. Well, reason, another non-objective concept. William Shakespeare once said; The fool thinks he is wise, but the wise man knows he is a fool. And indeed: we are quick to say when someone is out of sync; He doesn’t track, he is not wise. That’s what I thought the other day, when I saw a young man who was singing loudly through Nijmegen, he really isn’t a whiz. But what could be better than doing what you feel like doing? And was I the non-wise one at that moment because I kept my mouth shut while I also felt like singing? So… when you will soon hear me singing loudly in the middle of the Pastoor de Vochtplein.. Sorry, I was looking forward to that.
Okay, summary. My walk; the Walk of wisdom is over. What did I discover? That wisdom is not so much about knowing the right answers, but rather about asking the right questions, although that is not wise in front of your teenagers.
I believe that wisdom means: keep moving, literally and figuratively. Be willing to grow, even if you get lost or stumble along the way. Or lose a sock, or have too much. Sometimes life also feels like such a long-distance hike, you know where you start, but not exactly where you end up. And the blisters you get along the way often turn out to be the greatest teachers. And sometimes wisdom just means following your own path. Or are you stubborn? Ai, I think even ChatGPT is going to crash with all these questions.
Wanda Havens
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