How Do You Spot a Wise Man in a Crowd?

[Gary Childress]

In what is perhaps my own romanticism I sort of imagine him giving up on society as if to say to us all that we're all nothing more than fools. Is he perhaps a modern day Diogenes?

I think u'r conclusion is waaaayyyy off, if had given up on society he wouldn't donate to it, as in donating to a shelter, which would benefit the many, and not only himself.

Good point.

[Vor]

The Bulldogs are the sons of the west, mate, the representatives of the oppressed underclass in Australian football, the greatest game in the entire world. How the hell is your country ever going to achieve world dominance without taking the Bulldogs into your reckoning? We shall rise like a Phoenix from the ashes and smite our foes asunder. We shall slay all who stand in our path and there will be much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth,.

Thus spake Leo

Bogan.

[Obvious Leo]

Bogan.

PROUDLY Bogan

[Vor]

You are full of it…….mate.

[Hobbes' Choice]

(NEWSER) – A community in British Columbia is feeling warm and fuzzy after a homeless man's generosity inspired residents not once but twice over the past two weeks. First, the unidentified man with little to his name found a suitcase with $2,000 in it on a street in Victoria, but turned over the cash to police believing it was "the right thing to do," authorities tell the CBC.

As the story spread, Mike Kelly of website Victoria Buzz began fundraising to help the guy out and donations flooded in, totaling $5,000—including $255 donated by kids who'd opened a lemonade stand, CTV News reports. But finding the Langford man in his 60s proved difficult.

"It's not easy tracking down a person of no fixed address and no phone, but I kept trying," says officer Alex Bérubé. "I was touched by the story."

After hours of searching on and off the clock, Bérubé finally found him on Monday and told him of the money that was his if he wanted it; he didn't.

"Instead of asking how to collect it, he asked me how to donate it" to a local homeless shelter, Our Place, and other food service providers for homeless people, Bérubé says.

Officers told the man to think over his decision, but when he visited a police branch the next day, his choice was the same. In a handwritten letter, he described his intentions for the money—though he also made one small, additional request: He asked for a job. Kelly says he plans "to do everything I can to help find him a job that fits his personal situation" and is soliciting help. (A 5-year-old recently brought a homelessman to tears.)

Dug up this article thanks to something posted by a user who goes by the screen name "Prof" here on the forums. I couldn't find anything more on whether or not this man's request for a job has been granted or fulfilled. Apparently a story like this isn't as "newsworthy" as riots, movie stars and other pressing things we're supposed to know about. There's not a lot of information on the guy but his actions alone in his example seem to betray some kind of wisdom or excellence of character. I sort of wonder, if this guy was the wisest man in the world, would any of us even be able to spot it? In what is perhaps my own romanticism I sort of imagine him giving up on society as if to say to us all that we're all nothing more than fools. Is he perhaps a modern day Diogenes?

I am truly puzzled why you think this story relates to the Title of the Thread?!?!

Where is the wisdom? What has the story got to do with spotting a wise man?

I am also a little skeptical about the veracity of the story. It all seems a little too down pat. Narratives often mask, ignore and embellish: for the sake of brevity, clarity and so that they comply to a frame or structure of a story.
Have you the slightest reason to think this story is truthful?

[duszek]

In "The Secret Agent" there was another "Professor", who was working on a perfect detonator and who was a genius who did not get a chance in his life.

You cannot tell from a mere glimpse at a man whether he is wise or not.

It is only when you talk to a person and make acquaintance of him that you can tell one way or another.

[Gary Childress]

(NEWSER) – A community in British Columbia is feeling warm and fuzzy after a homeless man's generosity inspired residents not once but twice over the past two weeks. First, the unidentified man with little to his name found a suitcase with $2,000 in it on a street in Victoria, but turned over the cash to police believing it was "the right thing to do," authorities tell the CBC.

As the story spread, Mike Kelly of website Victoria Buzz began fundraising to help the guy out and donations flooded in, totaling $5,000—including $255 donated by kids who'd opened a lemonade stand, CTV News reports. But finding the Langford man in his 60s proved difficult.

"It's not easy tracking down a person of no fixed address and no phone, but I kept trying," says officer Alex Bérubé. "I was touched by the story."

After hours of searching on and off the clock, Bérubé finally found him on Monday and told him of the money that was his if he wanted it; he didn't.

"Instead of asking how to collect it, he asked me how to donate it" to a local homeless shelter, Our Place, and other food service providers for homeless people, Bérubé says.

Officers told the man to think over his decision, but when he visited a police branch the next day, his choice was the same. In a handwritten letter, he described his intentions for the money—though he also made one small, additional request: He asked for a job. Kelly says he plans "to do everything I can to help find him a job that fits his personal situation" and is soliciting help. (A 5-year-old recently brought a homelessman to tears.)

Dug up this article thanks to something posted by a user who goes by the screen name "Prof" here on the forums. I couldn't find anything more on whether or not this man's request for a job has been granted or fulfilled. Apparently a story like this isn't as "newsworthy" as riots, movie stars and other pressing things we're supposed to know about. There's not a lot of information on the guy but his actions alone in his example seem to betray some kind of wisdom or excellence of character. I sort of wonder, if this guy was the wisest man in the world, would any of us even be able to spot it?In what is perhaps my own romanticism I sort of imagine him giving up on society as if to say to us all that we're all nothing more than fools. Is he perhaps a modern day Diogenes?

I am truly puzzled why you think this story relates to the Title of the Thread?!?!

Where is the wisdom? What has the story got to do with spotting a wise man?

[Hobbes' Choice]

. I sort of wonder, if this guy was the wisest man in the world, would any of us even be able to spot it?

Well duh - why?

And...

I am also a little skeptical about the veracity of the story. It all seems a little too down pat. Narratives often mask, ignore and embellish: for the sake of brevity, clarity and so that they comply to a frame or structure of a story.
Have you the slightest reason to think this story is truthful?

[Gary Childress]

. I sort of wonder, if this guy was the wisest man in the world, would any of us even be able to spot it?

Well duh - why?

And...

I am also a little skeptical about the veracity of the story. It all seems a little too down pat. Narratives often mask, ignore and embellish: for the sake of brevity, clarity and so that they comply to a frame or structure of a story.
Have you the slightest reason to think this story is truthful?

You must have driven your parents crazy.

[Hobbes' Choice]

. I sort of wonder, if this guy was the wisest man in the world, would any of us even be able to spot it?

Well duh - why?

And...

I am also a little skeptical about the veracity of the story. It all seems a little too down pat. Narratives often mask, ignore and embellish: for the sake of brevity, clarity and so that they comply to a frame or structure of a story.
Have you the slightest reason to think this story is truthful?

You must have driven your parents crazy.

Obviously you can't answer the question. Just say so, rather than resort to stupid comments.

[Gary Childress]

Sorry, I sort of thought maybe your question was disingenuous so I was replying in kind. It's a little hard to believe that you of all people (a philosopher I suppose) would genuinely ask what could possibly be wise about a homeless person declining the opportunity to make off with $2000 in cash that wasn't his and instead return it and ask for a job. As for the credibility of the story, I've seen no reason at this stage to doubt its credibility or assume it to be false. If it is true then I think it's undeniably a mark of some sort of excellence of character. If it's not then it's maybe satire of some sort. In any case, I apologize if your seemingly naïve question was a genuine one.

[Hobbes' Choice]

Sorry, I sort of thought maybe your question was disingenuous so I was replying in kind. It's a little hard to believe that you of all people (a philosopher I suppose) would genuinely ask what could possibly be wise about a homeless person declining the opportunity to make off with $2000 in cash that wasn't his and instead return it and ask for a job. As for the credibility of the story, I've seen no reason at this stage to doubt its credibility or assume it to be false. If it is true then I think it's undeniably a mark of some sort of excellence of character. If it's not then it's maybe satire of some sort. In any case, I apologize if your seemingly naïve question was a genuine one.

I was being quite genuine I assure you.
Can you justify the comment? If we take the story at face value, he has already fulfilled his civic duty by handing in the cash. As the cash remains unclaimed then it is rightfully his. If he is truly a man of reduced means, and wise he would take the money and use it as a windfall to improve his employment prospects in a practical way. Where is the wisdom in denying serendipity?
The man seems a fool.
Two thousand bucks is discarded. One might think that an honest bearer of this amount would not remain silent, and would have taken the minimum steps to recover the cash. They either came across the cash dishonestly, or the amount was trifling enough for them not to bother. Either way our discoverer, having done the decent thing qualifies for the reward for his honesty.
I think the naïvete is on your part, not mine.

[Gary Childress]

Sorry, I sort of thought maybe your question was disingenuous so I was replying in kind. It's a little hard to believe that you of all people (a philosopher I suppose) would genuinely ask what could possibly be wise about a homeless person declining the opportunity to make off with $2000 in cash that wasn't his and instead return it and ask for a job. As for the credibility of the story, I've seen no reason at this stage to doubt its credibility or assume it to be false. If it is true then I think it's undeniably a mark of some sort of excellence of character. If it's not then it's maybe satire of some sort. In any case, I apologize if your seemingly naïve question was a genuine one.

I was being quite genuine I assure you.
Can you justify the comment? If we take the story at face value, he has already fulfilled his civic duty by handing in the cash. As the cash remains unclaimed then it is rightfully his. If he is truly a man of reduced means, and wise he would take the money and use it as a windfall to improve his employment prospects in a practical way. Where is the wisdom in denying serendipity?
The man seems a fool.
Two thousand bucks is discarded. One might think that an honest bearer of this amount would not remain silent, and would have taken the minimum steps to recover the cash. They either came across the cash dishonestly, or the amount was trifling enough for them not to bother. Either way our discoverer, having done the decent thing qualifies for the reward for his honesty.
I think the naïvete is on your part, not mine.

According to the story someone HAS claimed the cash, though they have declined to give their name. I certainly don't know enough about the situation to speculate on the nature of the person who lost the cash but the homeless man definitely sounds like he's way above most of the rest of us in integrity. I don't know if I would have turned in the cash if I were homeless and certainly wouldn't blame him if he kept it but he didn't and to me if a homeless person can set aside self gain in favor of ethics then that says a LOT to the rest of the greedy buggers out there. That IS excellence of character and a "hard act to follow", as they say. No denying it in my book.

[Hobbes' Choice]

Sorry, I sort of thought maybe your question was disingenuous so I was replying in kind. It's a little hard to believe that you of all people (a philosopher I suppose) would genuinely ask what could possibly be wise about a homeless person declining the opportunity to make off with $2000 in cash that wasn't his and instead return it and ask for a job. As for the credibility of the story, I've seen no reason at this stage to doubt its credibility or assume it to be false. If it is true then I think it's undeniably a mark of some sort of excellence of character. If it's not then it's maybe satire of some sort. In any case, I apologize if your seemingly naïve question was a genuine one.

I was being quite genuine I assure you.
Can you justify the comment? If we take the story at face value, he has already fulfilled his civic duty by handing in the cash. As the cash remains unclaimed then it is rightfully his. If he is truly a man of reduced means, and wise he would take the money and use it as a windfall to improve his employment prospects in a practical way. Where is the wisdom in denying serendipity?
The man seems a fool.
Two thousand bucks is discarded. One might think that an honest bearer of this amount would not remain silent, and would have taken the minimum steps to recover the cash. They either came across the cash dishonestly, or the amount was trifling enough for them not to bother. Either way our discoverer, having done the decent thing qualifies for the reward for his honesty.
I think the naïvete is on your part, not mine.

According to the story someone HAS claimed the cash, though they have declined to give their name. I certainly don't know enough about the situation to speculate on the nature of the person who lost the cash but the homeless man definitely sounds like he's way above most of the rest of us in integrity. I don't know if I would have turned in the cash if I were homeless and certainly wouldn't blame him if he kept it but he didn't and to me if a homeless person can set aside self gain in favor of ethics then that says a LOT to the rest of the greedy buggers out there. That IS excellence of character and a "hard act to follow", as they say. No denying it in my book.

Yeah, nice little parable. I bet you believe the bible too?
He's still a fool to refuse the cash.
Maybe you should look for a decent reference for the story?

[Gary Childress]

I was being quite genuine I assure you.
Can you justify the comment? If we take the story at face value, he has already fulfilled his civic duty by handing in the cash. As the cash remains unclaimed then it is rightfully his. If he is truly a man of reduced means, and wise he would take the money and use it as a windfall to improve his employment prospects in a practical way. Where is the wisdom in denying serendipity?
The man seems a fool.
Two thousand bucks is discarded. One might think that an honest bearer of this amount would not remain silent, and would have taken the minimum steps to recover the cash. They either came across the cash dishonestly, or the amount was trifling enough for them not to bother. Either way our discoverer, having done the decent thing qualifies for the reward for his honesty.
I think the naïvete is on your part, not mine.

According to the story someone HAS claimed the cash, though they have declined to give their name. I certainly don't know enough about the situation to speculate on the nature of the person who lost the cash but the homeless man definitely sounds like he's way above most of the rest of us in integrity. I don't know if I would have turned in the cash if I were homeless and certainly wouldn't blame him if he kept it but he didn't and to me if a homeless person can set aside self gain in favor of ethics then that says a LOT to the rest of the greedy buggers out there. That IS excellence of character and a "hard act to follow", as they say. No denying it in my book.

Yeah, nice little parable. I bet you believe the bible too?
He's still a fool to refuse the cash.
Maybe you should look for a decent reference for the story?

The Bible has some good parables in it. I don't believe in the genesis account of origins and what not but that doesn't mean the Bible doesn't contain some inspiring words (what little I've read of it). I suspect you really shouldn't be so quick to judge things you don't understand.