Samuelsons urge students to seek wisdom, esteem

PROVO — Wisdom and a healthy self-esteem should be qualities cultivated by Brigham Young University students, President Cecil Samuelson and his wife, Sharon, said Tuesday.

The Samuelsons welcomed BYU students back from Christmas vacation at the Marriott Center during the first devotional of the new semester, which began Monday.

Samuelson, a former medical researcher and a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said he has seen some of the smartest people he knows occasionally make silly mistakes.

"I know that it would take only modest effort for me personally to construct a top ten list of the dumbest things I have said or done," he said to laughter.

"As we all know, common sense often seems very uncommon."

He believes wisdom is more than knowledge.

"In a number of settings over the years and reinforced now by my experiences here at BYU," he said, "it has seemed to me that wisdom and understanding are much rarer traits or talents than are knowledge and impressive mental capacity.

"Stated another way, we see many examples of bright folks who are not very wise and others who have excellent judgment and wisdom who seem to have only modest intellectual gifts or limited knowledge."

Samuelson said there is scriptural reason to believe that wisdom can be taught and learned, and he listed six suggestions for students, whom he asked to strike out on a quest for wisdom.

First, pray with faith for wisdom. Second, study to acquire knowledge often necessary as a precursor to wisdom. Third, engage in regular, deep, serious study of scripture. Fourth, remember that gaining wisdom is a lifelong process. Fifth, remain humble. Sixth, believe it is possible to gain wisdom.

He cautioned students against pride or haughtiness.

"For those of us in the BYU community who have the great blessing and privilege of learning in such a superb environment, we must be very careful that we do not get overly impressed by what knowledge we have acquired or by what wisdom we think we have gained.

"I might add that knowing what we don't know is a good measure of wisdom."

Sharon Samuelson spoke first and said students should understand their worth is determined by God, who counts each person as a son or daughter.

"Today we are told your sense of worth is determined by how much money you have, your sense of style, your social status," she said. "If we're not careful, we can let someone else set the standards for our feelings of self-worth."

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