{"id":1853,"date":"2016-10-12T17:24:13","date_gmt":"2016-10-12T17:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/resedblog.wpengine.com\/?p=1853"},"modified":"2021-03-25T20:54:24","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T20:54:24","slug":"a-portrait-of-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/responsiveed.com\/responsiveed-blog\/2016\/10\/12\/a-portrait-of-wisdom\/","title":{"rendered":"A Portrait of Wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wisdom is the core character trait of the month of September.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is wisdom? <\/b><\/h4>\n

Wisdom is making practical application of truth in daily decisions. <\/span><\/p>\n

Where does the word come from?<\/b><\/h4>\n

Word etymology: <\/span>Wisdom<\/span><\/i> comes from the Anglo-Saxon root <\/span>wis<\/span><\/i>, meaning \u201cwise; understanding truth, knowing,\u201d and the suffix \u2013<\/span>dom<\/span><\/i>, meaning \u201cjudgment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Wisdom in Action <\/b><\/h4>\n

\"800px-bookertwashington-cheynes-loc\"Booker T. Washington was born a slave on April 5, 1856. Rising from that position, he used dedication and hard-work to become a teacher, author, orator, advisor to two presidents, and a shaper of the future.<\/span> He believed that an education was essential to advance himself, and at the age of 16 he chose to leave home, walking 500 miles to Hampton Normal Agricultural Institute in Virginia. Along the road he took odd jobs to support himself. Once he arrived, he convinced administrators to let him attend the school and took a job as a janitor to help pay his tuition.<\/span><\/p>\n

By 1881 Washington had developed enough support for his vision to provide education and job training for children of emancipated slaves to be recommended to lead Alabama\u2019s new Tuskegee Institute. There he taught his students self-reliance through reading, writing, mechanical skills and trades. He understood the truth that knowledge creates opportunity, and he applied that insight by creating a program that would turn disenfranchised youth into lifelong learners. <\/span><\/p>\n

The school would in time become Tuskegee University, and set the pace for black colleges and universities across the country. One of the famous contributions the school made was to establish an aeronautics program designed to train mechanics and pilots. By 1946, the<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The

The Tuskegee Airmen<\/p><\/div>\n

program produced nearly 1,000 pilots and many more mechanics, ground staff, medical personnel and others needed to support flight groups. Of that number, 335 were deployed to Europe. They were the first black combat airmen, proving to the military hierarchy that blacks were every bit as capable of handling the toughest assignments as their white counterparts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington remains a controversial figure because of his willingness to work within the existing power structures of the day rather than battle them overtly, but it is widely acknowledged that his message of self-sufficiency and building economic and social power through strong communities and educational programs had a lasting impact on the civil rights movement in America.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can read more about Washington and how he applied wisdom to provide opportunity and change the way blacks were viewed in his autobiography, <\/span>Up From Slavery<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quotes from Booker T. Washington <\/b><\/h4>\n

\u201cSuccess is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life… as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.\u201d- Booker T. Washington<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what a man or woman is able to do that counts.\u201d – Booker T. Washington <\/span><\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/b><\/h4>\n