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043 Considering Wisdom
A weekly newsletter from BobBarnardnm.com
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Please share this with your friends so we can encourage others to consider wisdom.
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Thoughts on the intersection of Society/Culture, Productivity/You, and Wisdom/Knowledge.
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Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom – and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech. Benjamin Franklin
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My WEEK
This Week or so: Spent the time on the farm. I was helping Kate with the never-ending tasks that were needed. Hopefully, some that she won’t have to do in the future. I am becoming a mower pro. So far only ran over one tree because the speed control is backward to my usual instincts. I’m used to braking by pushing forward, but for the mower, you must pull back, plus there are two front-wheel controls.
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Considering Wisdom.
Does wisdom you've learned in one country translate to another country?
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I'm in my third week in New Zealand, and I thought I would write about the transferability of wisdom from one country to another. Everything is different, yet hauntingly the same. We tend to think English is English is English, but not accurate. American English vs. England English vs. New Zealand English are all the same, but they are not. Each of us has added our own words and our linguistic differences. It takes a while for us to get an ear for the others language.
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Whichever one of the three versions of English you grew up using determines what your spoken words sound like and, in some cases, what you mean. So it is fascinating to hear the New Zealand newscasters talk about US news. Here football means rugby and not what we mean.
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Now let's throw in some items and compare the US and New Zealand. "Catsup" in NZ tastes very different than in the US. My first hamburger contained Beef with an egg and ham. Plus, I got fried onion rings, beets and lettuce included. Eggs Benedict is very similar to the US version. But it is often served on Toast instead. Then an English muffin.
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Let's talk about driving on the "wrong" side of the road. New Zealand drivers are trained to go on the left instead of the "right" side for the US. And two-laned roundabouts are everywhere. All the rules of the road we learned in the US are backward. So, from the New Zealand perspective, we drive on the wrong side of the road.
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The biggest challenge is the metric vs. decimal system. Driving 100 km per hour here is okay, but that is just about 65 MPH. Speeds are lower here, and people are friendlier. The population is white, Samoan, mauri, other south sea islanders, and immigrants from many countries.
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In New Zealand, the indigenous peoples, the Mauri, greatly influence the country and its language. For example, street signs are shown in both English and Mauri.
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I am on the west side of the North Island, either in Wellington or Near Levine. Lovely summer weather with light winds and occasional showers
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Despite the differences, visiting New Zealand is well worth the effort. You can see most of the ecosystems we experience in the US between the North and South Islands. I am enjoying the first month of summer and will return to winter at the end of the month.
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So here is my answer to whether wisdom is transferrable, in case you thought I forgot. Yes. Wisdom is transferrable, but other learned behaviors must be revised in a new country. There are many things to learn in a new country.
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- Do you agree that wisdom is transferrable?
- Do you find travel broadening, other than in the weight sense?
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- Think about the differences between learned behaviors and wisdom.
- Think about the benefits of travel within the US and outside the US. Do you find them different?
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