Sechel

One of my most read blogs is the one on "Smart vs Bright". If we dig deeper into that thought we realize that there is also the concept of "Smart vs Wise". In a way, I think that this is an even more important one. In my family we always joke around that we have "sechel" which is a Yiddish word for "smarts". Yesterday my sister in law sent me a cartoon with the saying, "A Smart Person Knows What To Say. A Wise Person Know Whether Or Not To Say It". That defines the word sechel to a tee. How many times have we been in a situation where something is obvious but still needs to go unnoticed? That is where the wise person comes in. We know but we do not say. Some people might say that we are then lying. I disagree. I side with the wise owl. He keeps his eyes open, is aware of his surroundings in 360 degrees but rarely says "who".