Wisdom - The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment.

The word, wisdom, can be a little intimidating. If you are interested in finding meaning and purpose in your life, then you may be interested in gaining wisdom. If you are interested in bringing joy to a your life, then you may be want to learn how to live wisely. 

I don’t have it all figured out, but as I ponder this notion at my retirement age, I still have interest in acquiring as much wisdom as I can manage before I cross the divide.

I recently stumbled across my grandmother’s 8th grade graduation booklet, “School Days Souvenir,” dated May 24th, 1922, from the Frontier County District #58 country school, located not far north of the Red Willow County line, about midway between McCook and Indianola. Regardless of whether you used horseback, buggy, or early horseless carriage, it would take close to two hours or more to commute from either city on the primitive roads. 

There were 36 first through eighth grade “pupils” listed in the booklet, with Winnifred C. Bergin as the only teacher.  I venture a guess that Winnifred most likely had her hands full.

The booklet consists of only four pages, but they are packed with some pearls of wisdom. I will share a couple with you as I think they reflect some important values of our McCook Community Foundation Fund (MCFF). 

The first pearl contains a few pieces of advice and unfortunately does not include the author’s credit but is wise to follow and wraps up concisely:

A carefree and happy childhood, a golden buoyant youth, an energetic and useful manhood and womanhood, and a serene and contented old age should be the life story of all who are born. 

Beautiful thoughts are the jewels that adorn the soul.  Cherish and cultivate them that you may walk in the paths of righteousness and peace.

Gathering a little knowledge every day will bring you at last to the halls of wisdom, where you may enter and revel in the joy of perfect knowledge. 

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom.”

Our world has changed since 1922, or has it really? Are these words not applicable today?

We live in a new age; physically, intellectually, and emotionally managing a world that the 1922 eighth-grade graduating pupils couldn’t have imagined. 

Eighth grade was the end of formal education for much of that generation. My grandmother was fortunate enough to get additional teaching credentials and teach at another country school for a few years before she was forced to quit because she planned to get married. Yes, that was quite common then and the nullification clause was printed in her teaching contract.  She accepted that limitation and went on to raise her family, living an amazingly interesting and sometimes tragic story.  There are many stories lived by the predecessors of our community, and much wisdom to be acquire by studying their history.

MCFF recognizes that change is inevitable. Try as you may, there is no stopping it. 

MCFF also understands that the core values of humans living in a community have not changed all that much. We still desire many of the same community attributes for our families.

With this in mind, we believe we can affect our community future positively by applying our collective wisdom. MCFF creates the opportunity for you to share a bit of your family success with McCook’s future. Any amount invested today provides immediate community benefit from this point forward.

Directed wisely, any endowed funds are perpetual; meaning the earnings from the principle will be working 100 years from now. And if we play our cards right, many years after that. These earnings can be invested in residents and projects by future leaders building our community.  Impacting our hospital, schools, and the YMCA; improving the housing and day care situations; revitalizing the downtown and growing cultural experiences; and many more concepts we cannot imagine today. In short, investments to make McCook’s future better. I think that’s wise! 

To wrap up, here is one final pearl from the 1922 handbook which is just as applicable today:“Success consists in doing the common things in life uncommonly well.”

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Dale Dueland, a life-long farmer, is a member of the McCook Community Foundation Fund Advisory Committee, has had family in the community for generations and manages to keep busy with various projects and events.