No End in Sight: A word to the wise…
My seventh grade history teacher was Mr. Baltich. His motto was “A word to the wise is sufficient.” He often used it to conclude tales from historic episodes in which things could have gone much more smoothly had one or more of the parties learned from existing wisdom. This existing wisdom might have come from a scorned adviser or from the simple observation of past events.
Mr. Baltich also used this motto as part of his warning to a classroom full of parochial school students (as in “Heed this understated verbal warning, or else…”). At the naive age of 12, most of us didn’t grasp the seriousness of any warning that didn’t include wild gestures or raised voices, so we’d often get to find out what fate befell those to whom words were insufficient. Eventually we started to wise up.
Mr. B’s trademark saying is based on the notion – and I wasn’t sure of its accuracy until the past few years – that it takes true wisdom to heed the advice of those who’ve experienced more than you. I already knew there were countless examples of young, cocky types who, for whatever reason, feel the need to remake all of the mistakes their elders warn them about. I’ve always chalked it up to a sense of hubris that seems almost inherent to youth. My recent viewing of the documentary No End in Sight helped illustrate to me how pervasive this foolish attribute is in biologically mature men, like those who engineered the invasion of Iraq. [Read more →]
