[Spirit Dancer]

Bigger is not always better. Having better clothes or a better car doesn't make us better people. Having a whole world of information at our fingertips doesn't make us any wiser at all--it just means that we have access to more information than people used to have access to.

Many of us mistake this information as wisdom. To be wise, though, we can't just know things--we have to understand them, and understand the principles behind them. If we're going to be wise, we can't just share facts and figures--we have to share why's and how's. We must reach a deeper understanding of most things and then share that understanding with others, or else our wisdom will be for naught.

Wisdom isn't using big words--most wisdom is breathtaking in its simplicity. Wisdom isn't having the answer for everything--it's often wiser to allow someone else to find his or her own answers to a problem or dilemma.

These days we're tempted to feel wise because we know more, but quantity doesn't mean quality. What we share can reach much farther through the Internet and the phone lines, but distance doesn't mean as much as depth.