Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.

  • Post In: African proverbs & Quotes

    • Keymaster
        #2869

        What is the meaning of the proverb, ‘Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.‘?

        Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.

      • Participant
          #2889

          As we can see a baobab tree has a large bulgy trank, making it impossible for one person to wrap his arm completely around it.

          The proverb means that no one man has all the wisdom in this world; no one man has all the wise thoughs; no one man is all wise; no one man is always right.

          It means that we all have pieces of what is called wisdom. And sharing ideas and working together, we can do exploits. In an institution, community, government, etc. if only one person is running the show, he would get stuck at some point and or he would exhaust all his wisdom and make a lot of bad decisions that would devastating to his subordinates.

          This proverb discredits authoritarian style of leadership where only the leader or a few of the leadership call the shots.

        • Participant
            #2917

            A baobab tree has a truck that is so huge that you cannot completely wrap your arms around it. Comparing wisdom to the baobab tree like that means that wisdom is too large, wide, or broad for an individual to have it all and it is too deep for one to fathom.

            We get it that one individual cannot completely wrap his arms around a baobab tree, but what if they are many. When people join hands, they can embrace a baobab tree. This means that sharing our wise thoughts and wise ideas we can do expoits in our community, nation, etc.

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