Walter Williams, My Friend

I learned this week that my mentor and good friend Walter Williams passed away a few days ago. He was a world-renowned economist, advisor to presidents, and a weekly columnist and an author of many books. He combined Philly street smarts with academia. An oil and water combination if there ever was one. He made it work.  He also subbed for Rush Limbaugh in what he titled "The Atilla the Hun Chair." Walt had a wicked and mischievous sense of humor. He loved being antagonistic, individualistic, and counter to Liberal groupthink. He was Libertarian and not Conservative. There is quite a difference. A true Libertarian essentially believes that do what you will within the constraints of protecting property and persons, just don't make another person pay for it. As a political philosophy, it is the only way I see out of gridlock.     

We were friends basically because I grew up on the same street where he lived with his wife and daughter. We spent many a summer morning on the weekends playing tennis and then shooting the breeze afterwards. When I came of age, we'd drink some beers. I remember one time he accidently dropped a beer behind his refrigerator. That was quite the task to fish it out. Walt like to boast, often with a twinkle in his eye, and his wife would just look up at the ceiling as if to say, "Sure, Walter."

After tennis, I was definitely the student and he was the teacher. It was like Life 101 with an economic take on issues. I learned a lot and it is certainly the case that I internalized so much of this thought that it is truly a part of me. From what I can tell, the last time Walt and I got together was 4 years ago. It just seems like yesterday. We had a fancy dinner and I turned him onto some of my Belgian Quad homebrew. It was a lovely evening, full of laughs and discussion. I had thought of him a couple of weeks ago and considered emailing him to have dinner this Winter some time. It was usually the case of me reaching out to him. I understood that our relationship was not one of equals. But, he never refused an opportunity to get together. 

I will leave you with two nuggets of wisdom (among many others) that have stuck with me over the 50 years that I knew him.

- When I was 19 and nearly 20, I was attempting to get my Driver's License. Up to then, I had no car to drive so I didn't bother getting a license. I had flunked my first two driving exams (the on the road part) and was pretty discouraged. Walt cheered me up sort of by noting that "One day this won't seem like that big a deal."  Essentially telling me that life had plenty of other disappointments in store for me and in light of that, don't get too worked up about it. As it turns out, I passed the driving test somehow. 

 - He regaled me with a story when he was a doctoral student at UCLA, he was complaining about people being against him, particularly because he was a black man in a white man's world. His mentor and professor, while not denying racism and the like, told Walter, "What makes you think people care about you?" The prof's point that the opposite of love, as Soren Kierkergaard wrote, is not hatred, but indifference. Not even important enough to be worth hating. That shocked Williams but it became one of his guiding principles of life. Williams essentially believed that people are much more concerned about themselves than others. And at least be wary when someone presents otherwise (appearing altruistic for personal gain).  

The irony of this "no care about you" observation of course is that Dr. Williams became very well known and literally a demi-god in some circles in our society and the world. Known and admired by millions. People did indeed care about him and his ideas. Any economist who dismisses Williams' ideas without serious reflection, is a poor thinker. I can't say I agree with everything he said and wrote, but I'd give him the benefit of the doubt rather than dismiss out of hand. 

Walt and I would occasionally connect at events where he was a keynote speaker. Either before or after his talk, we'd catch up and chat. I could see a crowd of people wondering who in the hell I was and why was I being given an exclusive audience with the great Dr. Williams? Well, he was Walt to me. And although he was a wise mentor, a world-class scholar, and wonderfully engaging and funny columnist/author, he was, again, Walt to me. And I will miss him.         

*Well, I am back on my laptop with the blog. The Chromebook keyboard is just too touchy and I wind up misspelling words and having two spaces  (like this)  between words. Then, I have to go back and correct everything. Just too time and energy consuming. Admit the obvious. It ain't working. yo.  

So, it has been relegated to be my away from home quasi-computer and Virtual Conferencing device. There is no way to adjust the keyboard. Because I have typed so much on this lap top (and also on the one at school which is at approximately the same height on the table) I can speed type and make very few errors. Think and Type without much interference.