The Function of Wise Men

I have been meaning to post this for a while... This is taken from "Six Days of the Week" by Henry van Dyke. He phrases it so well that I can only copy it and quote him.

"Wisdom is the principal thing -- Proverbs 4:7"

     "The men of thought, of cultivation, of reason in the community ought to be an antidote to dangerous influences.
      Having been instructed in the lessons of history and science and philosophy, they are bound to contribute their knowledge to the service of society.
     As a rule, they are willing enough to do this for pay, in the professions of law and medicine and teaching and divinity.
     What I plead for is the wider, nobler, unpaid service which an educated man renders to society simply by being thoughtful and by helping other men to think.
     The college men of a country ought to be its most conservative men; that is to say, the men who do most to conserve it.
     They ought to be men whom demagogues cannot inflame nor political bosses pervert.
     They ought to bring wild theories to the test of reason, and withstand rash experiments with obstinate prudence.
     When it is proposed, for example, to enrich the nation by debasing its currency, they should be the men who demand time to think whether real wealth can be created by artificial legislation.
     And if they succeed in winning time to think, the danger will pass -- or rather it will be transformed into some other danger requiring a new application of the salt of intelligence.
     For the fermenting activity of ignorance is incessant, and perpetual thoughtfulness is the price of social safety."

This was copyrighted almost 90 years ago, and like all principles, it withstands the passing of time.