"The View from My Window"

By now you should have digested your Thanksgiving dinner, paid off the football pool, and are recovering from injuries incurred when your played touch football with your grandchildren. It is time to sit back, forget politics for the moment and contemplate the world outside your window. I hope this brief essay sets the mood.

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

More Essays from Essex

“The View from My Window”

November 29, 2025

 

“She opened her curtains, and looked out toward the bit of road that lay in view, with

fields beyond the entrance-gates...Far off in the bending sky was the pearly light; and she

felt the largeness of the world and the manifold wakings of men to labor and endurance.”

                                                                                                                                George Eliot (1819-1880)

                                                                                                                                Middlemarch, 1871

 

Having lived in two apartments and six houses over sixty-one years of marriage, my wife and I have looked out at the carcass of a butchered deer from our first apartment in Durham, New Hampshire, to watching our Chocolate Lab “Bundle” chase her tail across the lawn in Greenwich, to observing flights of marsh birds from our home in Old Lyme. Now, for the past (almost) ten years, our sight is of the comings and goings at Essex Meadows, a view of a parking lot and distant hills, framed by a nearby oak tree. 

 

It is life we witness, (or in the case of the deer, what was once life became sustenance for the hunter and his family). What better vista than a window can there be to see life in all its variety. Who can forget Jimmy Stewart in the Alfred Hitchcock movie “Rear Window” where his curiosity solved a crime but almost became his demise. Nevertheless, I empathize with the Turkish playwright Mehmet Murat ildan, or at least with the quote attributed to him: “Your desire to be near to a window is your desire to be close to life.” 

 

Of all the places we have lived, the scene from our windows in Old Lyme was the most spectacular, but also the most serene. We looked across the Connecticut River to Old Saybrook, a mile or so distant. On the far side of the river we could see, but not hear, power boats. Nearby were tidal marshes that surrounded our dock, marshes that teem with life, nature’s urban centers. Osprey swept to and fro, as they fed on menhaden that thrive in the marsh rivers that separated us from Great Island. And nothing could compete with the beauty of a crimson sun sinking below the horizon across the River – its rays reaching out above the houses and trees in Old Saybrook – an omen of “sailors delight” for the next day.

 

Today, our view is quite different. But all windows unlock a lookout on a world of wonder, as Hannah Sheldon-Dean inferred in her 2023 children’s book, Windows to the Wonders of the World. It is life we witness, from the budding of plants in the spring, to birds welcoming a summer morning with song, to squirrels putting away food for the winter to come. Before we arise each morning crews are on the job, making our lives more pleasant. Early on a few dogs are walked by residents, or is it the other way around? These are people we know, people we care about and who care about us. “Set wide the window,” wrote Edith Wharton in Artemis to Actaeon and Other Verse, “let me drink the day.” And so we do.   

"The Great Contradiction," Joseph J. Ellis

 

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Burrowing into Books

The Great Contradiction: The Tragic Side of the American Founding

Joseph J. Ellis

November 22, 2025

 

“Alongside their impressive achievements, the founding generation failed

to reach a just accommodation with the Native American population, and

failed to end slavery or, more realistically, put it on the road to extinction.”

                                                                                                                                Joseph J. Ellis (1943-)

                                                                                                                                The Great Contradiction, 2025

 

In addressing the two situations that violated the ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, Professor Ellis (retired now and living in Vermont) has done us a favor. In his foreword he wrote that he would leave it to the reader as to whether this was a Greek tragedy, by which he means “inevitable and unavoidable,” or whether it was “Shakespearian,” “a product of inadequate leadership rooted in moral blindness” and thus avoidable.

 

We are reminded that it was not a democracy – a term then associated with demagoguery – that the Founders created, a government not of “the people,” but rather one for “the public,” where the “public interest was the equivalent to the long-term interest of the people, a concept not understood by a majority, “mostly because they were born, lived their lives, and died within a three-hour horse ride.”

 

Professor Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Founding Brothers, provides, via correspondence and letters, portraits of John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, and somewhat longer vignettes of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both slave owners, and Alexander McGillivray, chief of the Creek Nation. 

 

Two thirds of the book deals with slavery, which, while concentrated in Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas, was existent in all states in 1790 except Maine and Massachusetts, despite rising voices in the north calling for abolition. The remaining third speaks to the forced movement west of Native Americans. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the Revolutionary War, provided the new country with all the land from the Atlantic to the Mississippi and from Canada to Spanish-held Florida. Yet three-quarters of that land was inhabited by Native Americans. Despite a series of treaties between the United States and various Indian Nations, demography proved to be destiny, as pioneers pushed west.

 

This is an important book, as the author tackles a sensitive subject with reason and sensitivity. While Professor Ellis does not provide the reader, overtly, his personal feelings as to what type of tragedy was incurred with the failure to address slavery and with the forced removal of Native Americans from their historic hunting grounds, one is left with the sense that a United States would never have been created without accommodating the desires of slave owners – as immoral and antithetical to the concept of liberty as they were – and with allowing the inevitable move west of an ever-expanding immigrant and pioneer people. The United States “would have remained a confederation of sovereign states...”

 

This reader finished the book, with sense that the tragedy was unavoidable, but further impressed by the fortune that we, as Americans today, had in our Founders, imperfect as they were.

"Wherefore Wisdom"

 While I will invade your in-box tomorrow with a book review, it is short (approximately 500 words) and I promise to stay away for the next few days. The below is something to munch on as you prepare your stomach for Thursday.

 

The owl symbolizes all that I wish for our country.

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Thought of the Day

“Wherefore Wisdom?”

November 21, 2025

 

“...the most complicated fabric of the most perfect form of government” resulted

from a “great measure of accident” plus “a small ingredient of wisdom and foresight.”[1]

                                                                                                                David Hume (1711-1776)

                                                                                                                Scottish philosopher

                                                                                                                The History of England, 1754

 

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

                                                                                                                Professor George Santayana (1863-1952)

                                                                                                                Reason in Common Sense

                                                                                                                Vol I of The Life of Reason, 1905

 

Across most cultures there are certain values that are ancient, universal and enduring. In the Judeo-Christian world there are the Ten Commandments, especially those that command us to honor our parents, to not kill, steal, bear false witness, commit adultery, or covet our neighbor’s spouse or goods, and there are lessons from Aesop about the value of work, the importance of skepticism, and the detriment of envy – all embedded in his Fables: “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” “The Fox and the Crow,” and “The Fox and the Grapes.” 

 

I have been thinking of these issues as I recently read C.S. Lewis’ 1942 book, The Screwtape Letters and Joseph Ellis’ recent history The Great Contradiction[2].  Lewis’ book is a series of letters from Screwtape to his nephew Wormwood, a “novice demon.” It speaks to the temptations of the devil. Ellis discusses the inherent contradiction between the words in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and slavery and the forced removal of Native Americans from their historic lands.  

 

The abolitionist and Unitarian minister, Theodore Parker sermonized in 1853: “I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one...But from what I see it bends toward justice.” The study of history is important as Professor Santayana makes clear in an epithet that heads this essay, to understand how, despite abiding values embedded in culture, practices change; evil is ubiquitous and often arrives disguised. It is important that we each learn the ancient lessons of the Ten Commandments and the morals of Aesop, so that we behave civilly and accept responsibility. 

 

It may be that every generation judges past ones based on current standards. Certainly, ours does. Feeling smug and complacent, too many of us spend time judging the ethical shortcomings of past generations, rather than focusing on the failings of our own. It explains the popularity of Nicole Hannah-Jones’ The 1619 Project, made worse by a focus on identity – that people are either victims or oppressors. It may make us feel better to cast blame on those long dead, but history, like evolution, is a continuum. And it moves slowly, as Reverend Parker intimated. According to Google’s AI, modern humans first evolved in Africa more than 300,000 years ago. But it was only five to six thousand years ago that humans formed civil societies. And consider how recently it was that women were allowed to vote!

 

Tribal wars and slavery were common in much of the world into the early 19^th Century. Such conflicts, fueled by political power struggles, resources and historical grievances, are still common in places like the Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and the Central African Republic. If one includes forced labor, debt bondage, forced marriage and human trafficking an estimated 50 million people today are slaves. And we cannot forget That the 20^th Century was the bloodiest on record – that it gave rise to both Nazism on the right and Communism on the left. Combined, they enslaved an estimated 50 million people and killed double that number. Even today, according to Freedom House, only about 20% of the world’s population live in countries where political rights and civil liberties are protected. Evil persists. We can point to the civil war in Sudan, the conflicts in Myanmar and Syria, the killing of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Nigeria, the brutal fight in Ukraine, and Israel’s continued existential wars, but individually we would be wise to search our own souls, to cleanse ourselves of the hatred that too often rises to the surface – to consider the words of David Hume in the epithet above. Wisdom has been AWOL.

 

The recent decline in morals that have guided us over many years is not limited to acts of violence. The recent admission by the BBC that they had doctored a January 6, 2021 speech by then President Trump to make it appear he had instigated the attack on the Capitol later that day was a deliberate act of malfeasance. Their decision implied a lack of faith in the ability of their viewers to fairly consider facts and respond appropriately. The same could be said of those who pushed the Russian collusion story of 2016.

 

The values we should return to are simple and ancient ones, ones that have stood the test of time. The world would benefit from a return to those principles laid out in the 10 Commandments, which were delivered over 3,000 years ago. And we would gain from re-reading those tales of the Greek slave Aesop who lived 2,600 years ago. “Wisdom,” Albert Einstein wrote in 1954, “is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.”

 

Like knowledge of history, the values that have guided us over the millennia sometimes fade from our conscience, yet they persevere. The inherent rights of individuals, rule of law, limited government and free markets are the foundation on which our country was created and built. Wherefore wisdom? Wisdom requires we not forget.

"Pigs Have Wings," P.G. Wodehouse

 Coming off a big day in the market, this brief essay on Wodehouse’s Pigs Have Wings seemed appropriate. As all Wodehouse fans know this book stars the Empress of Blandings, a “zeppelin-shaped Black Berkshire sow,” as Wodehouse biographer Richard Usborne described her.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sydney M. Williams

 

Burrowing into Books

Pigs Have Wings, P.G. Wodehouse

November 12, 2025

 

“A shudder made the butler’s body ripple like a 

field of wheat when a summer breeze passes over it.”

                                                                                                                P.G. Wodehouse (1881-1975)

                                                                                                                Pigs Have Wings, 1952

 

To immerse one’s self in a book is one of life’s great pleasures. And when that book is a Wodehouse one is submerged in a bath of delight.

 

As all Wodehouse fans know, because of “Pigs” in the title, this story is set at Blandings Castle, Shropshire County. The Castle, “a noble pile” in the town of Market Blandings, is home to Lord Emsworth, his sister Constance and younger brother Galahad (Gally) Threepwood. Nearby is the town of Much Matchingham and Matchingham Hall, home to Sir Gregory Parsloe-Parsloe.

 

The time is just days before the annual Shropshire Agricultural Show and the Fat Pigs class, a contest that the Empress of Blandings, the “apple of Lord Emsworth’s eye,” has won over the past two years, beating the Pride of Matchingham. This year, however, the Empress is in an even closer match with Sir Gregory’s new entrant, the Queen of Matchingham. Emsworth, the 9^th Earl, is a doddering, absent-minded man who is never happier than when draped over the Empress’ pigsty. As the title suggests, neither pig stays put.

 

Besides the shenanigans regarding the two pigs who are perfectly content as long as they get their 57,000 calories a day, the reader becomes enmeshed in a romantic comedy involving three couples. The genius of “the master” (a phrase associated with Wodehouse) is in how he unravels the tangled mess he creates. The joy for the reader is in how he takes a bucketful of words, unscrambles and reassembles them: 

 

What Lord Emsworth loves best – “...listening to sweetest of all music, the sound of the Empress restoring her tissues...”

 

Engaged to Orlo Vosper, but in love with Jerry Vail: “Penny gave an interested squeak.”

 

Emsworth’s former pig man, George Cyril Wellbeloved: “...his once alert brain a mere mass of inert porridge.”

 

Beach, Lord Emsworth’s butler: “But his jaw had fallen, and he was looking at his visitor in the manner of the lamb mentioned by the philosopher Schopenhauer when closeted with the butcher.”

 

Story’s end: “The moon shone down on an empty trough.”

 

Pigs Have Wings was first published fifty years after Wodehouse’s first book, The Pot Hunters, and twenty-two years before his last book, Aunts Aren’t Gentlemen. In between, he wrote and published at least ninety books and short stories. I have read most. This ranks with the best.

"Is a Middle Way Possible?"

Perhaps it is age, but I have reached a point where the political hatred that rises from both the right and the left is wearing. I yearn for more pleasant times – the path of moderation in Buddhism (photo), or, more relevant to me, the 1984 Presidential campaign commercial of President Reagan: “It’s morning in America!” But, as Thomas Wolfe titled his 1940 novel, “You Can’t Go Home Again.” The past is the past, and we have changed as has the world. Nevertheless, we can hope. 

 

Sydney M. Williams

www.swtotd.blogspot.com

 

Thought of the Day

“Is a Middle Way Possible?”

November 10, 2025

 

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

                                                                                                                                Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)

                                                                                                                                Mother Night. 1962

 

“Facebook does not favor hatred, but hatred favors Facebook.”

                                                                                                                                Said Vaidhyanathan (1966-)

                                                                                                                                Professor of Media Studies, UVA

                                                                                                                                Antisocial Media, 2018

 

“Why can’t you all get along?” What parents have not expressed such concern? What child has not heard those words from their mother or father?

 

At the 1964 Republican National Convention, Senator and Republican Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater famously said: “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.” Those uncompromising words about liberty are ones with which all lovers of freedom would agree. Nonetheless, political extremism has become diabolical. Democrats have a far-left problem. Republicans have a far-right problem. Both Parties have taken partisanship to new levels on subjects far less compelling than liberty and justice. Polarization has become the norm. Why has this happened?

 

There are many reasons, but two seem especially relevant: social media and early voting. The use of social media has exploded.  It attracts those wishing to amplify and personally benefit from messaging. It attracts militant followers. Social media is unsuitable for a progressive to accept a conservative view point, or for a conservative to understand a progressive. Today, with an estimated 317 million smart phones in the U.S., being an “influencer” can be profitable. There are an estimated 27 million “paid creators” in the United States. Most promote consumer products, but as The Washington Post reported a year ago: “Political campaigns and their surrogates are pouring millions of dollars into social media influencers with scant regulatory oversight or public transparency.” In a May 22, 2025 article for the Center for Democracy & Technology, Isabel Linzer wrote that “...the shift towards political influencers became apparent in 2020 when Michael Bloomberg’s campaign hired meme accounts on Instagram to promote his candidacy and the Trump campaign paid $1.8 million to influencer marketing groups.”

 

According to studies, the average individual spends over two hours a day on social media. And the average American checks their mobile device 159 times a day – or about every nine minutes. Most people confirm their already-arrived-at opinions, so follow or watch those with whom they already agree. They do not search for contrary opinions, nor are they interested in debating ideas. At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on April 14, 2021, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated: “Social media has become a key amplifier to domestic violent extremism.”

 

Influencers know how to game the system. Are left-wing influencers like Hasan Piker and the Young Turks and right-wing influencers like Nick Fuentes and Candace Owen driven by ideological conviction or self-enrichment? In a recent article in City Journal, writing of despicable comments by Nick Fuentes in his interview with Tucker Carlson, Christopher Rufo wrote: “...he [Fuentes] embraces taboos because doing so drives attention and creates a spectacle in digital media that benefits him.” Millions of dollars are at stake. But that does not justify what Fuentes said, nor make understandable why the Heritage Foundation’s president Kevin Roberts felt it necessary to post a video defending Tucker Carlson’s interview with Fuentes. The election of an anti-Semitic and Socialist Mayor in New York was due largely to left-wing influencers on social media, and to the abdication of responsibility from centrist Democrats in Washington and Albany who fear being replaced by left-wing radicals.  

 

A second reason for this hike in extremism has been, in my opinion, the rising popularity of early voting. In 1992, according to the Census Bureau, seven percent of votes were cast early or by absentee ballot. In 2020, amid COVID, 64.04% of all votes cast were either early or by absentee/mail-in. Absent COVID, in 2024, 60% of registered voters voted early. According to The New York Times, the 2025 mayoral election in New York City saw more than 735,000 votes cast early, out of just over two million votes – the highest early in-person turnout ever for a non-Presidential election in New York State history. Politicians love early voting. They speak at a rally late in the election cycle, get followers pumped-up, and send them off to the polls, with emotion, not reflection, driving their decisions.

 

Extended voting was a characteristic of the early days of our Republic, but that was due to the country’s rural nature, and the difficulty many had in getting to the Courthouse on election day. Nevertheless, there are arguments for early and absentee voting: individuals who travel on election day, less congestion at the polls, improved poll worker performance, and convenience for the voter. But the evidence that early voting increases turnout is less convincing. In 1992, 68.2% of all registered voters voted. In 2020 (when early voting became common due to COVID), it was 67.5%, and in 2024 the comparable number was 65.3 percent. While absentee voting is a necessity, voters should be encouraged to wait until election day and base their decisions on all the news. Keep in mind, a vote once cast cannot be recalled.

 

Given the way in which social media dominates our culture, the popularity of early voting, and the personal animosity that infiltrates our politics, is it possible to find a middle waythrough these dangerous waters? I don’t know, but I hope so. In a nation where freedom of expression is fundamental to our values, we cannot re-bottle the social media genie. But we must find ways of better preparing the electorate. Mainstream media – newspapers, magazines, network and cable TV, radio – have taken sides, mostly favoring the left. Perhaps Jeff Bezos ownership of The Washington Post and Bari Weiss now being in charge of CBS News portends a change? 

 

The late political satirist P.J. O’Rourke saw government as a necessary evil. He titled his 2010 book Don’t Vote: It Just Encourages the Bastards. He saw those who ran for office as either self-serving, incompetent, or both. While I would not go that far, the moral quality of our politicians has been on a downward slope for several decades. As to what will stop this slide toward increased polarization, I suspect lies in education.

 

Left-leaning political indoctrination in high schools and universities has abetted progressives, which in turn has radicalized the right in opposition. Teachers should challenge students to think for themselves, to question convention, to debate ideas, to be tolerant and respectful of those with whom they disagree. With so many on social media, it is only through an un-biased education that an individual can discern a charlatan. 

 

As Americans, we are blessed to live in a free country. We come from myriad backgrounds, races, cultures and religions. But we are all Americans. Despite (or perhaps because of) our diversity, we should be able to get along – to appreciate our differences, and to celebrate what we have in common. If we do, a middle way will open.