Making the Shift from Smart to Wise

At what point does one become wise? The truth is there really isn’t any one significant event or time when someone is considered wise. It’s an accumulation of events, experiences, sadness and joy that ultimately earns the recipient the term wise.

“Tis not knowing much, but what is useful, that makes a wise person”. ~ Thomas Fuller, MD

“A wise person hears one word and understands two”. ~ Yiddish Proverb

Oh and one thing you’ll notice about people you consider to be wise, they exude humility. It’s as if through all their experiences they’ve learned where they fit in the world and are grateful for all they’ve experienced.

Here are some people who didn’t slow down as they were getting older but continued to pursue their ambitions well into their 60’s.

60 – Dr Hattie Alexander discovers the cure for bacterial meningitis.

61 – Sharpshooter Annie Oakley nails 98 of100 clay pigeons in an exhibition at a North Carolina gun club.

62 – Louis Pasteur inoculates his first patient against rabies.

63 – Eugenicist Francis Galton demonstrates that each person’s fingerprints are unique. Criminals worldwide mourn.

64 – Betty Ford, wife of President Gerald R. Ford, opens her eponymously named clinic to treat substance abuse.

65 – Colonel Harland Sanders begins nationwide licensing for his special fried chicken recipe, which will come to be known as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

66 – Michelangelo completes his Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel.

67 – Engineer Joseph Baermann Strauss celebrates as his masterwork, the Golden Gate Bridge, is opened to traffic.

68 – Lillian Cater, mother of President Jimmy Carter, joins the Peace Corps and works for two years as a nurse in India.

69 – Mary Kaplan realizes her goal of running a marathon in every U.S. state – and finishing first in her age group in each race.

It proves age is but a number. You have as much life left in you as what you put into it.