Knowledge vs. Wisdom

I grew up loving to build and be creative. I remember my first exposure to Lego blocks was in 3rd grade. That was the days when the blocks were simply that, blocks. There weren't a lot of other things that connected together. Mostly what we had were the blocks that numbered 4, 6, or 8. The boys made tons of guns throughout that time, practically every day. As I grew older my younger brother and I would build cars and crash them into one another to see who could build the most indestructible car. (I think I won most of the time)

Then, as I grew older, I can remember watching my father "tinker" with engines, specifically the lawn mower engines. I eventually had my time in having to take a small engine apart and put it back together - that was my freshman year of high school. It seems that throughout my life I've enjoyed doing this kind of thing. Sometimes I've taken things apart to find that I cannot get it back together. One trick I will use the next time that I learned from American Restoration is to take pictures along the way.

As the subject is about taking things apart, that brings us to this week's quote...

Knowledge comes by taking things apart, but wisdom comes by putting things together. ~ John A. Morrison

I am sure you have had opportunities to take things apart. How successful were you at getting them back together? The simple things, probably more successful. The more challenging things, maybe not so successful?

I would guess that with either situation - successful or unsuccessful - of taking things apart and putting them back together, you became a bit more wise. You have the knowledge of something as you take it apart but you gain something more as you put it back together successfully. I have been on this side and the "Eureka" moment is worth every bit of time and challenge that the project brought about.

What about non-mechanical items? What about working with people - individually or collectively? When we "tear down" someone or a team, and then put it back together, is there a greater sense of wisdom, not just knowledge? I hope to not mean that we are hurting someone or a group of people - physically or mentally. However, I simply mean one may break bad habits and help a team or group become more unified in the end, for example.

How about learning in school. Anyone hate story problems like I did? Now I can probably handle them much better than I could then, but they were sure frustrating then! However, once you "got it" you really understood what the problem consisted of.

Maybe it is even us that needs to be taken apart. What in you needs to be taken away or just cleaned up so that even you can understand yourself a bit better?

May we take time to take things apart, but remember to take pictures. You will gain some knowledge, but then when you put it back together you will have some wisdom!

Now it's your turn...What areas has this quote pertained to you in your life?