“Four eyes see better than two” (old proverb).
It is truly a foolish person who does not appreciate the value of advice. When we are faced with a decision, none of us can see everything that would be beneficial. We need the complementary vision that comes from other eyes, and to the extent that we allow our perspective to be expanded and enhanced by that of other people, the better our decisions will be.
There’s no doubt that some people go to the opposite extreme and take advice from everyone they meet, whether that advice is good, bad, or mediocre. But the person who takes everyone’s advice is as foolish as the person who takes no one’s advice. At some point, we have to take responsibility for our own choices. We must pay attention to good advice and ignore what is not good – and then we must make our own decisions independently.
But therein lies the trick! If we could always tell the difference between good and bad advice, maybe we wouldn’t need any advice. As Wilson Mizner said, “To benefit from good advice requires more knowledge than the advice itself gives.” Therefore, we need to increase in wisdom – the knowledge needed to recognize and act on good advice.
Our most common mistake is to ignore advice that conflicts with our preferences and preconceived ideas. Anyone who agrees with our preferred course of action is “wise”, and his advice “good”, while the person who warns us that we are on the wrong path is usually dismissed as someone who “doesn’t understand.”
But sometimes the best advice is the most inconvenient. And not only that, but the best advice can come from unsuspecting sources, perhaps even our enemies. Yet if we know what is good for us, we will learn to benefit from useful advice, no matter where it comes from or how little we want to hear it.
In my experience, the best advice is usually to take. We must actively seek it; It is usually not visible to us. Because they want to remain polite, many of our friends don’t open up about our circumstances unless we ask them. And as we all know, asking for advice can be embarrassing. But if we remain silent when we need help, we end up hurting ourselves.
“I use not only all the brains I have but all I can borrow” (Woodrow Wilson).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
