Lakota Virtue:Wisdom

Wisdom
What exactly is wisdom? Some people say that is is knowledge. In the book The Lakota Way, a grandson wanted to take a shortcut, across a gully to get home fast. The grandfather warned him but, the grandson went anyway. While crossing the gully the boy fell, but the grandfather was there to help him with some rope. When the grandson got out, he looked at his grandfather and asked “How did you know that i would fall under the snow?, Are you wise?” The grandfather said that he is and the grandson ask how he became wise. The grandfather told him, “Being wise, having wisdom, is knowing what to do with what you know, when to do it, and how to do it. Or, sometimes, a person must know enough to do nothing.” (Marshal 201-202)The grandfather told his grandson that he too did the mistake crossing the gully and falling  under the snow. What this means is that wisdom isn’t only knowledge, it is making mistakes and learning from them. The grandfather know that the grandson would need help because he also fell in. He learn from this mistake to tell his grandson and his grandson can tell his grandson.

Wisdom is important to the Lakota culture. This virtue is important to the Lakota because without it, no one would be able to teach the young like the wise do. For example, when a child pokes a fire with his or her finger, they get burned, then the wise tell them that that is what happens. So the wise affirm the truth in things by having someone go through it that doesn’t understand. And to support this it says in the book, “If she had spoken the words before the occurrence, they would have held no meaning for the child, and they would not have prevented him from touching the flames” (203 Marshall). This quote from the Lakota Way does a good job on explaining why the wise let someone get hurt and learn from their actions.

A Wise man known for his good deeds as a young man was asked to be the leader. He reluctantly  took the role and for two generation led with wisdom and kindness. A couple young men knew the wise man was getting old and felt they needed to replace him and by replace i mean take his place as chief. The young men developed a well thought out plan. The plan was to send one of them with a bird in his hand behind his back and ask the wise men a question,  the question being is the bird dead or alive. If the old wise men answered yes the birds would be crushed if he answered no the bird would be let go either way his answer would make him look bad, so they thought. The next day the boys carried out the plan and when it came to the old wise men answer he thought long and hard and when he replied he answered “The answer is in your hands”  After the story of a wise men a story there was Story about a girl who gossiped. The girl had gossiped so much her people  turned their back to her every time she was near or completely ignored her. One day she went to an old wise women to ask her how could she get people to not ignore her anymore, for she felt lonely. The old women then gave her pure white feathers and told her to go put them on every doorstep of the people she has wronged. She used every single feather and came back to the old women and asked her what to do. The old wise women then replied go collect all the feathers and bring them back. Gossip girl then went and tried to collect all the feathers but they all flew away she caught as many as she could and came back to the women and said she couldn't get them all. The wise old woman said the feathers are like the word you said about the people once it is said can not be taken back. The old women then said go give a gift to each person you have wrongen. She gave everything she had and was left with one thing and that was her dress. Wisdom is not Knowledge. It is knowing the Knowledge and knowing what to with it  and how to use it