Three Teachers

Seek the teacher who is a mentor to apprentices. She will give you expert advice and examples, then evaluate your ability to do as she has taught. Her name is Wisdom and you should always listen to her voice.

But Wisdom’s teacher allowed young Wisdom to follow any path she chose!

Wisdom learned her lessons from Consequences, the greatest teacher of all.

Wisdom can give you interesting examples because of all the fascinating things she learned from Consequences. You will know you are in the presence of Wisdom when you see her scars.

Wisdom and Consequences are happy teachers who guide students through the adventures of life.

A sad teacher repeats only what she’s been told, then grades you on how well you can repeat it back to her. She is a parrot, and she teaches other parrots.

A smart person makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again.

A wise person finds a smart person, and learns how to avoid that mistake altogether.

A fool listens to a parrot, and believes what he is told.

“But wait a minute, didn’t you say a wise person finds a smart person so they can learn how to avoid the mistake altogether?”

“Yes, but the parrot is not a smart person. She never made the mistake and learned from it. She is just repeating what she’s been told.”

“And why is that dangerous?”

“When the experience of Consequences has been removed from the classroom, the majestic principles of Wisdom quickly degrade into small and silly rules.”

The great fire-breathing dragon

becomes a tiny lizard

who lives in a little rulebook.

Every bureaucrat was once a young parrot taught by a sad teacher.

But was there ever a child who, late at night, lay under the covers and dreamed of someday becoming the enforcer of small and petty policies?

No. But there are children who were unlucky enough to be protected from Consequences by a misguided someone who did not understand the value of scars.

Roy H. Williams