There are those who walk into a room and believe they are the smartest person. Then there are those who walk into the room and ask themselves what they can learn from the other people in it. The one who wonders what he can learn is wise.
It is impossible to know everything. Even the most educated and successful people will tell you that they are always learning, and sometimes from the most unexpected people. They may be wise, but they don’t give off that vibe. They have a mindset where they are open to new ideas and ways of looking at things. They know that they are not the smartest person in the room and do foolish things from time to time.
The fool, however, wastes no time in letting everyone know how smart he is. You will find that the fool talks more than he listens. He cares about how he is perceived and wants to be recognized by others as smart. The wise man, though, will be understated and you may mistake him for an idiot.
Take Mr. Migayi for example. When Daniel starts learning karate in The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi gives him all these exercises to do. He is tasked with painting Mr. Miyagi ‘s fence, washing his cars (wax on, wax off, Daniel-san) and sanding his deck in the backyard. Daniel, being a fool, complains throughout the process saying that he isn’t learning karate. He accuses Mr. Miyagi of promising him that he will teach him karate, but instead he has become his slave doing all this free work for him around his house. Mr. Miyagi says, “So?” and tells him that he has learned plenty and that not everything is as it seems.
Daniel discovers that all the tasks Mr. Miyagi had given him was training to learn karate, he just didn’t realize it. Having never done karate or any kind of martial arts training, he thought he knew what his training would look like. He thought he was much wiser than he was.
How many fools do you know who think themselves to be wise? How about unassuming men, like Mr. Miyagi, who are wise?
