In the noisy corridors of life, we find many people stuffed to the brim with knowledge, but only a rare few are graced with the gift of wisdom. Knowledge fills books and slides easily from tongue to tongue; it’s measured, weighed, and neatly counted. Wisdom, however, is more elusive—a quiet understanding that slips between lines, a kind of depth that resists easy cataloging.

I think of knowledge as a library, immense and orderly, each book a polished nugget of information ready to be plucked off the shelf. Wisdom, on the other hand, is more like a candle in a dark room, soft but revealing just enough to help you find your way. Knowledge is the facts and theories we memorize and repeat; wisdom is knowing which facts to trust, which theories to question, and which voices to heed. In a world obsessed with the measurable, with resumes packed with degrees, certifications, and honors, wisdom waits quietly, often dismissed as too abstract, too vague. But it’s that very unmeasurable quality that makes wisdom essential. Without it, all the knowledge in the world might lead us not to answers but to confusion, sometimes even disaster.

Consider those “experts” who have credentials for miles yet seem to lack a basic understanding of people or the real world. They quote studies and use big words, but when faced with a real-life situation, they fumble, unable to turn that knowledge into practical solutions. I’ve met people who are fluent in theories and models but trip on the simple act of kindness or practicality, like trying to apply algebra to a baby’s cries. Knowledge can be a well-stocked toolbox, but if you don’t know which tool to use—or how to use it—it’s just metal and wood.

The irony is that, in our society, we often mistake knowledge for wisdom. We assume that the more a person knows, the wiser they must be, like believing a chef’s cookbook makes one a good cook. Yet, life has a way of showing us otherwise, doesn’t it? The person who spouts facts at every turn often stumbles when confronted with an ethical dilemma or when asked to understand another’s suffering. It’s almost comical, in a tragic sort of way, how people who claim to know so much can sometimes be blind to the simplest truths.

What’s even more troubling is that among those who do possess wisdom, few seem inclined to use it for the good of others. I’ve seen people with sharp insights use their gift like a weapon, wielding wisdom as a tool to manipulate, deceive, and pull strings from behind the scenes. It’s as if wisdom, instead of lighting the way, becomes a cloak for selfish ambition. The wise know better, but not all of them choose better. And maybe that’s why wisdom is so rare; it requires not only knowledge but a certain courage, and a willingness to act in ways that benefit others, even when there’s no immediate reward.

The paradox deepens: we often admire the knowledgeable more than the wise, perhaps because the fruits of wisdom are subtle, while knowledge wears badges and certificates. Wisdom doesn’t boast or declare itself, and that makes it harder to recognize in a world dazzled by shiny objects. Yet when I look around, it’s those few wise souls—the ones who walk quietly, who listen before speaking, who understand before acting—that make the real difference. They may not write headlines or win awards, but they leave ripples, changing lives in ways that are hard to measure but impossible to forget.

In my mind, wisdom is a slow-growing tree, while knowledge is the flashy flower that blooms and fades quickly. Flowers are lovely, of course, but they don’t endure. We need more trees. We need people who understand that knowledge without wisdom is a half-built bridge, useful to no one. It’s those who combine knowledge with compassion, with a sense of justice, who make a lasting impact.

Perhaps what we need is to start valuing wisdom as much as we value knowledge, to cultivate it not just in schools but in our homes, and our communities. Imagine a world where wisdom is prized, where we teach our children not only to memorize facts but to question them, to see beyond them, to use them for good. That, I believe, would be a world worth striving for, one where knowledge becomes the foundation, and wisdom the light guiding our way forward.

Arrogantly claiming during his appearance before the senate that he knows better than all else as he is a lawyer, prosecutor, mayor and president, the boastful resource person lorded over the hearing with narrative. It was the only man standing who ironically is a woman, that had the courage to tell the former mayor, prosecutor and president that what he claims as in accordance with law are all wrong.

Even the vulgar language that the said resource person had taken the luxury to spit as he narrated his tale was called by the lady senator as unacceptable in the upper house where they are hosts and the resource person as mere guest. The ploy to control the senate was too obvious as his two factotums in the senate kept supporting their master.

The rest of the senators were too cautious in the guise of affording respect to the former office of the resource person. With limited time to present their stories, the surviving family members of the victims of extrajudicial killings were hard-pressed explaining the details of their own sufferings. On the contrary, the former president was given all the time he wants to just to express all his tales and justifications. The inequity was too glaring for all to see, both from the gallery of the senate hall and those watching online.

In the course of his mouthful bragging, many revelations were uttered which when traced to previous statements of the former mayor, prosecutor and president as well as other resource persons that appeared before both houses of congress, are diametrically opposed and outright contradictory. He for instance had been insistent that there is no such thing as the Davao Death Squad (DDS) that former senator Liela De Lima investigated while she was justice secretary. But as the hearing continued, he spilled the truth that he indeed has a death squad and the police directors in attendance in that hearing were commanders of such death squads.

Amid vehement denials of the police directors that there were no such death squads, they could not now afford to brand their master as lying and they are the ones telling the truth. Over the years since the implementation of the bloody drug war that was patterned from the reported Davao template, official records on the number of victims that were extrajudicially killed but human rights groups set the number at about twenty thousand. Of the number killed, only eight policemen were convicted, prompting the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct its own investigation on the premise that the government had not done it duty to prosecute the killers.

The findings of the senate investigation as well as that of the quad committee of the lower house offer new reasons to pursue the prosecution of the culprits. The staggering number of killed victims is grossly disproportionate with the convictions. Calls from various sectors for the senate to submit the testimony of the former president to the ICC is gaining impetus that could hardly be ignored. All denials by those officials who are being implicated in the bloody drug was had taken a new twist with the author of the drug war bragging.
comments to alellema@yahoo.com