Wisdom: What is it?

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Abstract

The request to write an essay on ‘wisdom’ that could be passed on from an old and retired paediatrician, such as myself, to a young and aspiring trainee in paediatrics just starting out, led me to ask myself what wisdom really is. The dictionary defines the word as “knowledge and experience”, “accumulated learning” and “good sense”. If ‘knowledge’ (as the dictionary adds) is “understanding gained by experience”, what then is “experience”? This is a definition I came across many years ago: “Experience is the ability to make the same mistake with increasing confidence”. All of which didn’t get me very far. Instead, I prefer to write briefly on a few topics that sometimes cause difficulties in the practice of paediatrics and particularly about their management, which seems to have worked reasonably well for me. Dr James C Haworth