A question about Wisdom

Question: Proverbs 1:20-33 is described/titled as The Call of Wisdom. How do you think modern men and women have ignored the call of Wisdom, and what have been the results of this wilful ignoring/ignorance?

Wisdom cries out in the street; in the squares she raises her voice. At the busiest corner she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
"How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? Give heed to my reproof; I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, have stretched out my hand and no one heeded, and because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; will mock when panic strikes you, when panic strikes you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.

Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and be sated with their own devices. For waywardness kills the simple, and the complacency of fools destroys them; but those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.”

To sum up this passage from Proverbs (New Revised Standard Version given above): the Call of Wisdom is a call to be not simple, to love knowledge, to live in 'fear' of the Lord. Wisdom herself cannot be found by searching, however diligently, but by responding positively when she calls us, and shows herself to us. Those who listen to her will be secure, and will 'live at ease, without dread of disaster'.

Simplicity is often regarded as being good, and it can be, but not when it is at the expense of knowledge. Knowledge is demanding and risky: it may necessitate change, and many people are afraid of change. Living 'in fear of the Lord', that is, to admit to belief in Divinity and try to live by it, can be counter-cultural, abnormal, not like everyone else. Being open to the promptings of Wisdom, being willing to respond to them, and go one knows not where, is challenging and requires both imagination and obedience.

These are hard things. No wonder the wisdom of Wisdom has been ignored! And no wonder that the price of that ignoring has been the world as it is today, societies as they are today, individuals as they are today. No wonder exploitation, greed, and insularity are everywhere you look.