"Dad, have you cut all four of your wisdom teeth?" asked the teenager. "Yes, son," replied the father. "I have bought a used car, accepted a nomination, been chairman of the civic association, and married your mother." That man obviously thought that he had cut his "wisdom teeth" by chewing on four tough experiences. The four "third molars" have been given that name "wisdom teeth" because they usually appear during late adolescence or early adulthood. Wisdom, however, does not automatically come to us with the passing of the years or the accumulation of knowledge. As Bertrand Russell has said: "Wisdom is a harmony of knowledge, will, and feeling, and by no means necessarily grows with the growth of knowledge."

As far back as the days of Solomon in all his glory (and long before that!), wi…