Ethical Platform

Originally posted online on December 26, 2002 – reposted because the original site is no longer current

In August, 2002, members of the graduating class at the Humanist Institute asked their class mentors, Harvey Sarles and me, to speak for three to five minutes on the topic of “wisdom.” Here is what I shared that evening:

In 1993 or 1994, I wanted to learn how to design web sites. So I took a few quotations from my long-developing collection of quotes, put them up on a free web site, and called the page “Wisdom Quotes.”

Three months later, I learned about a new style of page counters (which measure how many people look at a web page), so I practiced by putting one up on the Wisdom Quotes site. A few months later, I remembered that I’d put the counter there and looked to see what the count was. I was shocked: 500 people a week were reading that page!

The page has since grown and evolved into its own web site, and the number of readers has grown quite significantly — but I still remember and treasure that early surprise at its popularity.

There is a hunger in the world for wisdom — and I don’t think it is found, really, on a web site, or a bumper sticker, or in any book.

These ten students, whose passion and dedication have moved me for three years, are wise and I commend them to you as humanist leaders.

But being wise is not a destination. It is a journey. Wisdom which is not continually developed becomes mere dogma.

So, to you who are now graduating, I charge you: develop your wisdom continually.

A few more words on wisdom:

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