“Knowledge is power.” –Sir Francis Bacon
In Sir Francis Bacon’s day, that quote may have been nearer
the truth than today. Any little bit of knowledge gave a
man or woman an edge and perhaps the power to move higher
in the intellectual or physical food chain.
Admittedly, even in today’s intricate world, the right
knowledge places a person in a better position to survive
physically, emotionally, mentally, fiscally, and common
sensically. I don’t know if the last one’s real, I just
typed it. “Stet” as the editors say.
However, no matter how much knowledge an individual
possesses, it is the use, the application of the knowledge
which provides the power. A blackmailer potentially has
power over the victim because of the knowledge he or she
possesses about the victim. If contact is not made with
the victim, and the threat communicated to them, the
blackmailer might as well be as powerless as if they
possessed nothing at all.
Knowledge is a tool. A hammer is a tool. In my garage are
three hammers: a claw hammer, a ball peen hammer, and a two
pound sledge. There they sit. They are fine hammers, and
each has specific tasks for which it was designed and for
which I bought it. I’ve had one a year, one about five
years, and the claw hammer since my days on a construction
crew back in 1963. I know how to use each and every one of
them effectively and have used them often, but, despite
their value as tools and my ability as a user of these
tools they are useless lumps until I pick them up and put
them to the task. There is also a maul which can be used
as a hammer, but I don’t want to be around to observe the
consequences of that misuse of a tool.
I have to be careful, by the way, as my wife has publicly
avowed that all tools are ultimately hammers, so if I send
her to the garage for a “hammer” there’s no telling what
she might return with. This brings up another point. One
person’s “tool” or “knowledge” may be another’s liability
or catastrophe in the making. As much as I love her, my
wife is dangerous with tools, sharp objects, or things that
can catch on fire. Were she to attempt to learn how to
wield a hammer, there’s no telling how much damage might be
done, and Thor would hopefully swoop down from Asgard to
wrest it from her hands before the course of the universe
was changed and his image tarnished forever.
On the other hand, give my wife a spreadsheet program on a
computer, or just a sheet of paper, and a mass of data
about what is happening in other countries and financial
markets around the world she can give you a pretty accurate
prediction of what is going to happen in the Forex market.
That’s why in our house, she is the investor, and I am the
guy who uses tools for esoteric purposes that she equates
with magic. As far as I am concerned, and remember, I am a
trained accountant, what she DOES with the facts and
figures on her computer are something that I would expect
Harry Potter to be dabbling in. I wonder if she went to
Hogwarts?
It is not merely the possession of knowledge that makes for
power. Yearly, our schools churn out bright young
creatures burdened with knowledge they do not fully
understand. Many feel that they have power because of this
knowledge. In time, perhaps they will add enough wisdom to
the knowledge to allow them to create power…hopefully for
the good of their fellow men and women. In the meantime,
they will continually bump their delicate psyches against
the hard realities of the world until when, and if, they
learn how to use the knowledge at their disposal to produce
power. This, by the way, is what one of my old bosses,
Cecil Bray, Assistant Comptroller of a testing lab at Eglin
Air Force Base, Florida, called “getting the corners
knocked off”.
Actually, once you have gotten your corners knocked off, it
may be a little easier to fit in some previously
unobtainable holes where knowledge can be gained, refined,
and brought into focus. Maybe that’s really a slightly
better formula. Instead of Knowledge = Power, perhaps
Knowledge + Polishing + Plugging In = Power. Anyway,
that’s how power works in my house. Plug it in. Turn it
on.
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Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer. He is a University
of West Florida alumnus, a member of Mensa, and is retired
from the U. S. Army. He is the owner of
http://texasprepaidcellular.com .
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