Sydney Williams: Wisdom
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Wisdom is defined by Random House Webster’s Dictionary: “The quality or state of being wise; sagacity, discernment, or insight.” If that definition leaves you confused as it did me, then read what Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) wrote in Literary Remains, Volume I, published posthumously in 1836: “Common sense, in an uncommon degree, is what the world calls wisdom.” Wisdom involves judgement and the ability to anticipate the consequences of one’s actions. It involves honesty about oneself and the admission of one’s mistakes and limitations. It is empirical not conjectural; it sees a world where reality – not optics – is the driving force.
Wisdom is often associated with age. I recall when I was learning to drive, and that while my father agreed my reactions might be faster than his, he said I lacked judgment. He was right. In The Admirable Crichton, J.M. Barrie wrote: “I’m not young enough to know everything.” But, as can be seen in President Biden’s decision to ignominiously leave Afghanistan, age does not necessarily bring wisdom.
It is, of course, presumptuous to write about wisdom, because the reader must assume the author considers himself wise. That is not my claim. I agree with Shakespeare’s court jester Touchstone who in As You like It says: “The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” Wisdom is rare and illusive, especially in our Twitter-filled world.
The ego-driven ex-Presidencies of Clinton, Obama and Trump show none of the wisdom of former retiring Presidents, like Truman and Eisenhower. Is it wise to assume interest rates will always remain low? What will be the costs on thirty and more trillions of dollars of debt when interest rates do rise? Regarding the federal budget, has it been wise to let discretionary spending (about half of which is defense) decline from 67% of the budget in 1962 to 30% in 2019, while mandatory spending (mostly entitlements) increased from 25% in 1962 to 62% in 2019? In 1962, we were faced with a USSR that wanted to “bury” us. Today, we are faced with a combative China, a resurgent Russia and myriad Islamic terrorist groups who chant: “Death to America.” Yet defense spending, as a percent of GDP, has declined from 9.3% to 3.4%. Has that been wise? Was it wise to leave billions of dollars of military equipment in Afghanistan, thereby making the Taliban-led government – harborers of terrorism – one of the better armed nations in the world? Should social justice be the goal of our armed forces, or should they focus on strategy and winning wars?
In a competitive world, is it wise for schools and universities to focus on diversity (except for opinions), and to promote inclusion, equity and social justice while ignoring the benefits of aspiration, ability, merit, dedication and hard work? Which would be better for our nation one, two and three generations out? Would it not be wiser to encourage economic mobility than a static equity? Would it not be wiser to encourage unity rather than division? Should we not demand equality before the law and promote opportunity in a color-blind world, rather than preaching racial hatred in a world of oppressors and victims? Are the administrators at Amherst College wise to require students to double mask when inside and refrain from leaving campus, or are they over-reacting to the detriment of students’ mental health? As an airline passenger, would you rather the pilot be selected based on a diversity quota or on ability, regardless of his or her race or gender? And what about the neurosurgeon about to cut into your brain?
Will corporate managers focused on “wokeness” serve all stakeholders in businesses better than managers focused on profit? A Profitable business can pay its employees, and it pays its suppliers on time. A business is profitable because of satisfied customers. Businesses that make a profit pay taxes and contribute to the community. Of course, owners and shareholders benefit when a business is profitable, but if it incurs losses everyone suffers. Is it not wiser to make profitability the principal goal?
Wisdom involves thinking through issues, something in our hectic, harum-scarum world that has become passé. Generation Z – those born between 1995 and 2010 – has become, in the words of Jeremy Adams, author of Hollowed Out: A Warning about America’s Next Generation, “prisoners of presentism.” They are experts on Instagram, Twittering, You-tube, and they are hyper-aware of the latest fads and pop-culture. But can they think? What do they know of history and the classics? Will multiculturalism destroy what generations of wisdom have wrought?
Wisdom, like the skepticism critical to science, is based on reading, listening and questioning – making decisions based on facts. In his poem “Little Giddings,” in Four Quartets, T.S. Eliot wrote:
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
Eliot was telling us that sometimes we must return to where we started, to understand where we have been. The search for wisdom is enduring and its path is characterized by doubt. Gandhi once wrote: “It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
It is, however, today’s lack of wisdom that is most apparent and most troubling. It permeates our political classes, our universities and cultural institutions, our large banks and corporations, and much of media. How do I know? Like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart response when asked to explain “hard-core” pornography in 1964: “…I know it when I see it.” This lack of wisdom is highly visible. We know it when we see it. It is in Washington, where partisanship has replaced statesmanship. We see it in schools and colleges that call for diversity, except in ideas. We see it in corporations that feel the need to hire diversity, equity and inclusion managers. We see it on the lawns of wealthy, white, virtue-signaling suburbanites with their signs supporting BLM, an organization that promotes racial disharmony. We see it with sports and entertainment figures who call for equity but whose own success is based on singular talent, merit and hard work. Animals have an innate sense – the wisdom to adapt – something we seem to have lost. We complain about rising seas and anthropological-caused super storms, yet we continue to build homes in risky, coastal tidal zones.
Leaders sometimes mistake idiocy for wisdom. A few days ago, Victor Davis Hanson wrote for American Greatness: “In the hours after the horrific deaths of 13 servicemen, we have been reassured by our military that our partnership with the Taliban to provide security for our flights was wise.” Really?
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