The difference between intelligence and wisdom

A lot of people know a lot of things, but actually know very little at all.There's something to be said for book learning. As I noted yesterday, the fact that my boys are big readers is a point of pride. Through books we stretch our imaginations and learn from the mistakes of our past.But without having an understanding of the world we live in, all the book learning in the world won't make a lick of difference.We recorded the National Geographic series "Mars" back in the fall and only just got around to watching it. A newcomer to Mars is in charge of increasing the facility's energy output so that the greenhouses can increase their harvest and feed more people. She insists on taking the reactor offline to upgrade it all - right away.The base commander, who's been on Mars since the first manned ship landed there four years earlier, knows better. Wait two months, she insists - until after the storm season passes and the dust storms won't make working outside impossible.The newcomer knows better, though. she's done lots of simulations and it's all gonna go great and everything will be done before the storms come.Of course, that's not what happens, and the storms come while the reactor's offline and last longer than usual. Plants die; areas of the base need to be shut down to preserve power; things go to crap. Just like the base commander knew it would, because she knew Mars and knew that simulations never fully prepare you for the real thing.Knowledge is not the same as wisdom, she tells her sister, who's in charge of the operation back on Earth.We forget that sometimes - we assume that because we know what's supposed to happen that it will. We know our history, know how things work, understand how to take things apart - in theory. Until we actually do anything, we don't really know what's going to happen, though.We need to remember that - to respect the experience and knowledge of those who've gone through what we have not.There's something to be said for experience - and that experience comes in all shapes and sizes.Photo by Jerome Carpenter via Flickr Creative Commons.