Wisdom and good decision-making

Letters

WISDOM is something you cannot buy.
It is a gift from God and was instilled in you while you were in your mother’s womb.
Many of us do not realise that we are blessed with this divine aspect of life. Nowadays, our mindsets are always controlled by emotions and as a result we make bad decisions and choices that often hurt our reputation.
Most of the decisions we make and pathways we choose are based on secular knowledge.
We can boast about our degrees, master’s and PhDs and how much education we received in school, but education without wisdom is meaningless. Both worldly gained education and divine wisdom are fundamental.
Our conduct, our public relationship, our speech, our actions, our attitudes and our behaviour will always attract people’s attention.
We should earn the respect of our community, our electorate, our people, our counterpart in politics, our employer, our colleagues, our team-mates in sports, our spouses, our children at home, our friends, etc.
We should fit into people’s heart and mind naturally and not force ourselves upon others for recognition.
Your conduct should show who you are.
Let me give two examples.
First, we take East Sepik Governor Allan Bird and Madang MP Bryan Kramer.
Both intellectuals are in the Opposition in Parliament and are seen as the main critics of the O’Neill-Abel government.
Which one of them showed wisdom and education when Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his delegation visited Madang and Wewak recently?
As was reported, when the prime minister and his delegation were in Madang launching major projects with Governor Peter Yama, he was mocked, scorned and criticised by Kramer.
Why did Kramer react in such a weird manner? He should have been happy because those projects would benefit his electorate.
On the other hand, in Wewak, our prime minister received a warm and honourable welcome from the people of East Sepik, led by Governor Bird. Can you see the difference between these two leaders?
I admire the words spoken by the East Sepik governor when he said that even though he and O’Neill were sitting on different sides of the House, East Sepik will still welcome O’Neill as the prime minister. The Opposition is there to keep the Government on track.
The Madang MP takes politics too personally and lacks wisdom. The ESP governor delivers both wisdom and knowledge as portrayed in his reception and speech.
It does not matter where he sits, things fall in line naturally because he uses both. He is the only governor within the Opposition ranks who received his full share of SIP grants.
In another example, we see young men today drinking homebrew and taking drugs.
They carry their boom box and act like single people, mingling with young boys and creating disorder in communities and settlements.
Some of these people are married and have two, three or even five children, yet they show no sense of responsibility.
They do bad things while the wife struggles at home to feed the family.
These young men lack wisdom and cannot see that there is a difference between good and evil.
Wisdom should be the enabler that helps us make clear choices.

Hanam Bill Sandu
LAE