J. H. W. Tischbein: Three Beavers Building a Dam (c. 1800)

ABOUT THIS ARTWORK
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein experimented with animal physiognomy in many drawings. Inspired by the Swiss philosopher Johann Kaspar Lavater, the artist believed a person’s character depended on the animal he resembled. As Tischbein wrote in 1796, “I have undertaken another [series of drawings] in order to learn more about man. To make this study easier it is necessary to begin with beasts, since they are easier and their characters more evident.” Traditionally busy animals, these furry beavers exhibit human expressions as they focus diligently on the difficult task of stemming an exuberant waterfall.


This writing week brought an end to Daylight Saving Time, ushering in my overlong season of early darkness and gratefully earlier sunrises. I was going to be up anyway, so I appreciate early daylight almost as much as I revile early dusk. This writing week also marked the end of the overlong baseball season, a national pastime that consumed more than its fair share of my time toward the end of the Series. Halloween visited, christening our refurbished porch with treat-seekers and kid footprints. I celebrated with Treating. I explored the metaphor of Decency as Dust. I found it surprisingly satisfying before delving into barking Madness, not as metaphor but as practice, as presently practiced by our increasingly hapless incumbent. I explored the proliferation of what I labeled ‘UmUrgencies,’ ineptness-caused emergencies invariably responded to ineptly, too. I found some solace in writing about Derision’s generally impotent attempts to discourage Decency. Then I ended this writing week by reminding myself and my readers that Decency almost exclusively comes in remarkably small packages. Thank you for following along here!

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Weekly Writing Summary

Treating
“Let tradition bring us through those times when we feel most threatened.”
This Decency Story sees me fleeing into the security rituals and traditions bring in times when Decency seems most wanting.

I reflect on the comforts I found in Halloween rituals, noting how modern celebrations differ from those in the past. Kids today wear unfamiliar, pop-culture-inspired costumes, and the tradition of Halloween pranks has nearly vanished. Unlike my own childhood’s unsupervised mischief, children now trick-or-treat with parents. I relish maintaining the holiday’s protocols, from prompting kids to declare “trick or treat” to complimenting them on their choice of costumes. Our evening was marked by a warm fire, familiar warmth, and a feeling that these traditions temporarily restored Decency.

Yamada Hōgyoku: Bat and Moon (1830s)

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Dust
“Ditto and more so with Decency.”
This Decency Story positively compares Decency to Dust.

This Decency Story employs the metaphor of dust to describe how Decency quietly exists in everyday life, often unnoticed and appreciated only in its absence. Decency, unlike its opposite—indecency, which is likened to unavoidable, conspicuous mud—operates quietly in the background and rarely attracts attention. Acts of Decency tend to be small and subtle, overshadowed by the spectacle of indecency, but their influence persists. Ultimately, I suggest that neither Decency nor dust can be the sole focus of life; both shape our environment in essential but unheralded ways, and their presence should not be measured by attention or counted acts.


Willem van Konijnenburg: The re-voting in Groningen (1897-06-27)

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Madness
“May Decency preserve us until this Madness crumbles.”
This Decency Story explores what tends to happen when Madness subsumes a society. Being sane in such an insane place provides little solace.

This Decency Story examines how societies go through brief but impactful periods of collective madness, where rationality and Decency are temporarily abandoned in favor of chaos, emotional rule, and self-destructive behaviors. During these times, leadership can spread the madness quickly, the average person has fewer choices, and reform efforts struggle against prevailing disorder. Recovery from such episodes tends to be slow and difficult, with people often failing to fully learn from their own past mistakes. Ultimately, sanity does return, but only after much suffering and uncertainty, leaving future generations the real beneficiaries of hard-earned lessons.


James Naumburg Rosenberg: Mad House (20th century)

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UmUrgency
“Nobody ever better deserved one of those handbaskets they say we should order.”
This Decency Story recounts what we witness happening daily. UmUrgencies beset us like never before in our long history. We don’t need to wonder why.

This Decency Story sharply criticizes the current administration for its ongoing cycle of self-made emergencies and inept responses, contrasting this with earlier, more competent and better-prepared governance. I note repeated, predictable failures, a lack of learning from mistakes, and a tendency to make each situation worse while claiming success. I portray the dysfunction as stemming from the leader’s nature and native lack of Decency, which seems to infect those around him, leaving observers embarrassed for the administration’s incapacity.


Edward S. Curtis: Hamatsa Emerging from the Woods - Koskimo (c. 1914)

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Derision
“…indecency exhausts itself with its own irrelevance.”
This Decency Story speaks to an eternally unfair competition where Decency, unless discouraged, almost always ultimately wins.

This Decency Story argues that indecency often employs derision and distraction instead of substance, targeting those who act with Decency, which can be difficult to maintain in the face of such Derision. Decency often gets discounted as naive or weak, but its strength lies in persistence and faith in itself. Indecency, lacking real strategic strength, deploys noise and intimidation to mask its vulnerabilities, but these ultimately don’t pose a real threat to someone who continues to act with Decency. Over time, Decency’s staying power and resilience allow it to prevail, while indecency is undone by its own irrelevance and excess.


Pieter van den Berge: Spotting (1675 to 1737) A standing man with his tongue stuck out and his right hand pointed raised.
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SmallDecencies
“Decency seems to reliably visit only those not desperately searching for it.”
This Decency Story finally reveals one enduring truth about Decencies: They almost exclusively come in small packages.

Genuine decency usually appears in small, everyday actions rather than large or expensive gestures. While wealth and grand displays have their place, they can distract from what’s truly meaningful. Simple, thoughtful acts—like giving a handmade gift or showing good manners—carry more weight and impact. Decency isn’t measured by financial means or scale, and it’s invisible to those who only seek grand results. The true experience of Decency comes from small, quiet contributions rather than the pursuit of big, impressive acts.


M.E. Edwards: Full of worries (1892 - 1905)
Gallery Text: Sheet with 6 representations of different kinds, including representations of a man who finds a sick boy on the street, a traveler who eats his bread and a man who makes wooden dolls. Between the images, verses in book print.
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Wrong Side of History
We have been living under a remarkably curious popular misconception. For the MAGA movement to dominate in the long term, it will have to reverse centuries of success of the most popular concept in the world’s history so far. Further, while Democracy might seem to be at a distinct disadvantage when competing against MAGA forces, like our first responders appeared to have been at a disadvantage against the rioting January 6th insurrectionists, and in those horrible moments, they were. Shortly thereafter, our Justice Department began arresting and prosecuting those perpetrators. Of course, the MAGA forces’ next move involved pardoning those criminals, though few seem to understand that those people will just violate the law and be arrested and jailed again because that’s who they are. No pardon can fix their innate depravity. We are cursed or blessed to live through these times when the forces of history are temporarily out of balance. This has not significantly influenced the inertia of history, though, which continues inexorably, further encouraged by recent obscenities. MAGA has been busily creating powerful memories of what happens when anyone attempts to stand in the way of history’s inexorability. We might easily see the current drama, however tragic, as hardly definitive. It’s a lost cause, as was every similar cause against history attempted before. Woe be to anybody attempting to get on the wrong side of history.

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Decency, #PureSchmaltz