We have noticed people today have forsaken wisdom for information. That Google has replaced textbooks and shortcuts have overshadowed study and knowledge.
If knowing something takes more than a few minutes then we don't have time, after all I don't need to know how to multiply if my phone has a calculator right? The problem is we don't think for ourselves any more.
INFORMATION IS NOT KNOWLEDGE.
Knowledge is the earnest study of a subject to truly understand the workings of something.
If I Google Taylor Swift and look at her bio, read a few blogs about her, learn all the lyrics to all of her songs, it doesn't mean I know her. Or if I google "how to install a windshield wiper" that doesn't make me a mechanic, I hope no one would go to a doctor that didn't have a degree.
Knowledge requires effort and time.
The same thing applies to becoming an adult.
In generations past, people didn't look to books about parenting by some nut that has never had children. If we wanted to know how to be a man we didn't look to GQ. If we wanted to know how to be a woman Cosmo was not our reference source.
No, we looked to our family and close community.
We watched the way our fathers provided for their family, how they conducted business, and how they interacted with other men. We watched our mothers take care of their family, nurture their children, and provide an environment that fostered family unity. So where did she get her instruction?
That's right GRANDMA!
This movement away from instruction by family to instruction by institution began about the turn of the century when our fathers moved from the farm to the factory in order to support their family. Suddenly that side by side example of manhood wasn't there. Society was further moved away in the 60's and 70's when women moved from the home to the work place. Now children began to be raised by the teachers in our schools.
Now I'm not knocking schools, but they can't raise your children.
They can't provide wisdom.
Wisdom is when knowledge is combined with experience.
I can read all the books on piano I want, learn all the notes, but until I sit down to play, I am not a musician. And I will never be a good musician until I practice. The more I practice the better I'll be. No one wants to be on an airplane where the pilot is at the controls for the first time. Yet we raise our children according to books written by people who have never had any. Even if we haven't read the books ourselves the ideas have permeated our society to the point that it has become the norm.
Grandma would never do this!
She was confident that not only has God blessed her with children, but that He has blessed her with everything she needed to raise them. She had the instincts that God had given her, she had her parents and grandparents, and she had the 6,000 years of wisdom given to her by the one who made her, contained in the Bible.
As we go through the next few weeks we are going to share what we have learned, and two things are going to become clear.
First: Parents need to get back to being parents.
Stop letting society dictate what you do through political correctness. Start listening to the voice inside, and to people that have raised successful children before you as an example.
And for God's sake stop asking Oprah what to do.
Second: Young people, stop rejecting the advice and wisdom of people who have gone before you. Look to people who have happy and successful as examples to follow.
If you want to be an adult find an adult you respect and be like them.
RUSS
No comments:
Post a Comment