Is it better to be a wise person or an intelligent (聪明的) one? In other words, when it comes down to wisdom (智慧) and intelligence (智力), which is more important?

When I think about wisdom and intelligence, I believe that there are wise people and intelligent ones. My dad was a wise man. He used to say, “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.” My dad encouraged learning. He always made it a fun experience.

On the other hand, I had another friend who was really intelligent. He got straight A grades at college and a first-class degree in math. Once, he attended a birthday party at my house. I asked him to peel (剥) the eggs for me but he didn’t know how to do it.

So for me, there are clear distinctions between wisdom and intelligence. Intelligence is the ability to learn and get knowledge, such as facts and numbers, and then use this information accordingly. Wisdom comes from experiencing life. We learn through our experiences and use the knowledge to make decisions.

So, is one better than the other? Well, both are important at certain times in our lives. For example, you would prefer to have an intelligent person working as an officer in a nuclear power (核电) factory. However, if you are troubling with a personal mental (心理的) problem, you might prefer a wise person.

In fact, we should use our own intelligence and practice it in our own everyday experiences. By using intelligence this way, we can learn how to be wise ourselves.

As a teenager, I was the most difficult guy. I got angry quite easily and was not good at communicating with others. Slowly, most of the people around me tried to keep away from me.

One day, as I was getting ready for school, my busy mother handed me a vest (背心). When I saw it, I knew that was my father’s—I was getting to have a larger size than my father at that time. So as I put on the vest, I felt as if I wasn’t able to breathe! The feeling of anger was rising in my heart. My mother said sorry with a smile, but I was so angry that I let out a shout. Soon, I pulled the vest off my chest—so wildly that I made a hole in it. Then I put on my own vest and rushed out before she could stop me.

Later, my mother shared these with my father. Instead of saying he would scold (训斥) me, my father just calmly asked my mother to mend the vest. ____▲____ When my mother told me about my father’s action, I sat alone and thought a lot. Just imagining that he was wearing that broken vest in his office the whole day made me feel so terrible.

But I had to say, my father did set a great example for me.

That night, I thought a lot. I promised myself that I would never let anger control my mind any longer.

Of course, there are times when I get angry. However, whenever that happens, I will try to remember my father’s vest.

Sam brought some big red apples to a summer camp. He ate a few and put others into a box under his bed. After lunch, he found there was nothing in the box. He told his camp teacher, a smart man, about it.

The next day, the teacher saw a boy eating an apple behind a tree. He had a good idea. He said to Sam, “I know who took away your apples. Will you help me teach him a lesson?”

“Well, yes. But what should I do?” Sam asked. “I want you to write to your mother and ask for more apples,” the teacher answered.

A few days later, Sam got another box of apples from his mother. “Now,” said the teacher, “go and give some to the boy who took away your apples.” Although Sam didn’t understand why, he did that.

Half an hour later, the teacher saw the two boys playing together happily. The boy gave Sam a toy car as a gift. But Sam didn’t accept it. He said that a few apples were nothing.

Sometimes, being kind to others is more important than many other things.