Eh Too?

Madame M:

I disagree that we disagree. :)

Yes, grit, and its companion, determination.  The comparison between US and Chinese students?  More than a little foreboding.  Now, perhaps US students just get more determined about different things, and one could hope that is the case, but time and again sociologists and anthropologists have identified how SOFT—physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically, to name just a few—we, and especially what should be the very hardy young—have become.

Although we don’t know how to instill grit into people, we do know something of the seedbeds, or at least a faint sense of its occurrence rate among some.  Immigrants—high rate of grit.  Scientists—high rate of grit.  Military members—higher rate of grit than general population.  Special Forces—one of highest rates of grit.

Might it be that well-discernable TRUE OPPORTUNITY in front of an individual or a culture elicits a higher probability of grit?  Legacies—cultural or otherwise—probably increase or decrease such probabilities.

And if that is correct, then might it be that there is some deficiency of TRUE OPPORTUNITY here, as well as a debilitating effect of a diversionary, denying, self-enfeebling culture? 

All those things you talk about that people should do because they are good for them—DO they truly know they are good for them? Or do they make a quick and shallow (“undiscerning”) surface assessment about things—perhaps even just an unexamined short-term emotional one—that acts against their better interest, never figuring out (at least for a while) the benefits they are missing and how and why things fit together? 

For SOME things, we have the INTELLIGENCE and reasoning to be pretty certain of what is right to do.  Yet we may lack the WISDOM to actually choose to act (and especially fully) on that knowledge and understanding.  For others, our faulty (and often shallow) reasoning results in poor decisions, and our unwillingness to, in Benjamin Franklin’s words, “doubt a little of our own infallibility” means we do not 1) reconsider those decisions, or 2) weigh them anew, or 3) make attempts to correct in time.  And because we don’t, enough, we become easy, unwitting prey  for those who cleverly manipulate us to act against our own true self-interests and collective interests.

George Will’s column of a few weeks ago reminds us, via a professor emeritus,  “that humans are the only animals that do not ‘instinctively eat the right foods (when available) and act in such a way to maintain their naturally given state of health and vigor.  Other animals do not overeat, undersleep, knowingly ingest toxic substances, or permit their bodies to fall into disuse through sloth.’”  We are making bad choices, sometimes with little thought, and certainly with few considerations of wisdom.

Reasoning without wisdom is perilous enough.  Faulty reasoning processes without wisdom translates into grave danger to individuals, families, societies, governments, and civilizations.  Shakespeare’s Caesarian line echoes vividly to us these many centuries later: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves…”

We will get better, or one day a future people will read about a nation, citizenry, and civilization that is no more.