Often in life, what we don’t learn by applying our own wisdom, we learn through pain. Wisdom is the mother of Knowledge, Pain is the father. The question life is often asking of us is, “You want Mummy to show you or you want me to call Dad?”

“No mummy, daddy is ruthless and brutal with me. I prefer when you teach.”

“I know but lately you have been spending a lot of time with Failure. Your dad is not happy about this. We don’t want you to become like him. Enn fay piti sa.”

Wisdom has tried to talk to Procrastination, the mother of Failure. But it was to no avail. She has known her for a long time and knows that Procrastination often takes an agonizingly long time to make a decision. When she does, it’s often quite inspirational, but unfortunately she also often ends up doing nothing. And now that she has become friends with Idleness, the mother of Vice, and Laziness, the mother of Bad Habits, God knows what she does all day. These two are clearly having a really bad influence on her and this is not going to end well.

Wisdom has always been really cautious whom she makes friend with. She has since long been friends with Integrity, the mother of Virtue, and Education, the mother of Leadership. She has later also become quite close to Diligence, the mother of Good Luck, and Repetition, the mother of Learning. When she goes to her art classes, she also meets with Necessity, the mother of Invention and Creativity, the mother of Innovation. These are the people that are part of her group of friends, the ones she is comfortable with because she feels they are really bringing value to her life, making her a better person.

All the ladies regularly meet up to socialise, have some light fun and give support to each other as they go through life’s ups and downs. Once in a while, Fear also comes along. Fear is the mother of Morality. She is a serious, no-nonsense type of person, the others are afraid of her and the conversation becomes uncomfortable when she is there. Wisdom is herself totally in awe of Fear.

At the ladies club, there is also Silence, the mother of Truth, whom everybody has come to trust because she is the quiet type, not at all overbearing, and she knows how to keep a secret. Nobody knows much about her though; nobody knows whether she is truly happy inside. It is rumoured that she now lives separated from Confidence but no one can say for sure because she sort of keeps everything to herself. She is often seen talking to Philosophy, the mother of Science. Actually, Philosophy does all the talking and Silence does the listening. Philosophy is nevertheless the one most of them turn to when they seek guidance as she can be really helpful at times and usually gets them to see the bigger picture.

Everybody is fond of Enthusiasm, the mother of Effort, she is all fun and brings the group to life. Her good mood and high energy is contagious, everybody feels uplifted when Enthusiasm is around. They all agree that she is the one who holds the group together, motivating others to get things done, involving herself in all activities, to the point of depleting herself of her energy at times. The only problem is that she is often accompanied by Assumption, the mother of Mistakes. The assumption, at times, tends to jump to conclusions about people and situations without proof or even bothering to look into the matter. The two of them together have a few times been guilty of diving into certain initiatives on the spur of the moment, without informing the others, only to land into trouble. This has created some tension within the group, leading the others to be more cautious about these two.

Of the lot, Wisdom really likes Patience, the mother of Determination. She appreciates her ability to bide her time and work towards something without getting angry or upset, which Wisdom considers a valuable quality in a person.

Then there is also Discipline and her younger sister, Self-discipline, they are the ones everyone holds in high respect. Everyone secretly wishes they were more like these two. Discipline is the mother of Success and Self-discipline is the mother of Character. You can clearly see the influence they have both on their lovely children and how proud the latter make them.

The same cannot be said about Indiscipline, their other sister. Wisdom does not like it when Indiscipline makes an appearance and starts behaving badly, exaggerating to get attention and picking up fights. She’s been known to have no self-control at all. Indiscipline is the mother of Chaos. Wisdom has secretly been trying to cut off contact with Indiscipline while steering her own kid away from such a toxic friendship. She believes that our life is made by the friends we make, that’s what Experience, the mother of Wisdom, taught her.