Thursday, May 26, 2022

day no. 15,921: wisdom and weapons

Ecclesiastes 9:18a
Wisdom is better than weapons of war.

The proposition presupposes warfare. Wisdom is better than weapons, but make no mistake, we are at war. This observation is meaningless outside of a context of battle. There is no other scenario where comparing the two would be fair. Warfare is the space they share and each play their part there. To say that know-how is better than a howitzer while on a holiday at the beach is irrelevant, because better is comparative. It is better to have wisdom than to have weapons of war if hard-pressed between the two, but a grenade launcher at a birthday party is never a good idea, whereas it makes sense to take one with you to war. So, the comparison assumes both are of some use in the context of warfare where they happen to overlap, but if you can only have one, you're better off having wisdom. That said, if you are wise, you won't go out to war without your weapons.

Wisdom is always valuable whether at war or not, whereas weapons are valuable only for warring. A switch blade may be of benefit in hand-to-hand combat, but it can't help you with your Latin lessons. 

Wisdom can help avoid war altogether sometimes and in war, wisdom is more dangerous than weapons. Knowing how or when to use what you have is more potent than having something you know to be potent, but no wisdom to wield it.

So, it is better to have wisdom than weapons, but the wise will have both. If you're at war, you're a fool if you forget to bring your weapons or neglect your need for them there.

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