No, it isn't Thanksgiving, but why reserve our thanks for one special day of the year when so many of us have so much to be thankful for all year-round? Conservatism isn't just about defending the old, tried and true values but about being thankful for them. And knowing how to rest easy in them. There are already quite enough go-getters out there determined to improve the world at every turn. But, according to Yuval Levin, a basic element of conservatism is gratitude. It's knowing when to pause and give thanks for all that we have been given and in turn have an obligation to pass on to future generations, Even now they look to us with yet unformed faces. Let us also be thankful for the promise they represent.
Could we please declare a timeout for once and rest easy in what we have, instead of getting so all-fired het up and mounting the barricades to fight all those we know, or just imagine, to be our sworn ideological enemies? First things first. Or as R. R. Reno put it in the current edition of the well-named journal he edits, First Things: "A nationalist boasts. He uses his country to enhance his self-esteem or to conquer and dominate. A patriot enjoys his country. He rests in it."
He rests in it. The conservative venerates the Constitution, Brother Reno points out, not because it's the best, nor because our system of government cannot be improved, but simply because it is ours. "Enchanted," a man might say on being introduced to a lovely woman. But the great project of our more restless friends may be to disenchant the world, not to savor it or enjoy it or rest easy in it. As we would in our own house, in our own inheritance, in our own well-being, and so receive and accept this measureless gift of life as an act of unearned grace. It has been bequeathed to us as a goodly inheritance, not anything we deserve by dint of our foresight and planning and social engineering in general. Why not sit back and enjoy the fruit of our labor, or of our sheer good fortune, instead of wasting all our time getting and spending? To pretend that we deserve to be Americans would be, well, ungrateful. Instead let's enjoy that God-given privilege.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity, and enjoy our inheritance together instead of fretting over how best to hold it close. Our forefathers--and foremothers--taught us to value the tradition they were passing on to generation after generation.
To quote G.K. Chesterton, "Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead." This fast-passing present will soon enough be the past, and the past is worth celebrating, the present enjoying, and the future anticipating--for it will surely give birth to limitless opportunities in this land of opportunity.
Do you doubt that America is still the hope of the world? Then look around at all those still flocking to these shores. They aren't just fleeing the old world of privation and desperation, but are intent on building a new and better one in which every man can rest under the shade of his own vine and fig tree.
According to Scripture, even the Lord God, having labored for six days to create the heavens and earth, rested on the seventh. Surely it is just as incumbent on us mere mortals not just to labor for six days a week but to rest. For His is an example to follow, not disregard in the hustle and bustle of a work week expanded to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
So rest easy, friend and neighbor. All that work will keep, no matter how indispensable we may tell ourselves we've become. Try it, you'll like it, and so will all those spared the sight of your texting while driving and otherwise desecrating the world.
Slow down. You'll live longer and, doubtless more important, enjoy life more. For that's what it was made for--to be enjoyed, not frittered away by those without the grace to accept a gift simply and appropriately. Why not say thank you for this wonderful country in the best way--by enjoying its bounty to the fullest--rather than claim we haven't got the time to show our thanks.
Editorial on 02/07/2017