Dallas — For nine years, every November, just before Thanksgiving, I find myself in the same hotel (it’s now called the Beeman, and it’s just across from the George W. Bush presidential library at Southern Methodist University) in Dallas. As I write, I’ve just finished speaking with this year’s regional fellows in the National Review Institute’s Burke to Buckley program here. We have it in a number of cities, and I always close the eight-week program on gratitude as a civic virtue. Much of our discussion is rooted in the writings of William F. Buckley Jr., founder of National Review and NRI. He had a deep appreciation for the importance of stewardship of the gifts we have been given. Some of the readings that prepare the fellows for the session include Bill’s geeking out about the Oxford English Dictionary and Bach. After the hours of discussion — delightful, and yet a bit exhausting for an introvert — I’m grateful to come back to the hotel bar and find the welcoming presence of Francisco, the bartender I see here every year. So many things change, but he’s still there ready to give you a late-night meal or a drink and wish you a happy Thanksgiving.
I often do an examination of conscience about the role we’ve played here at National Review in contributing to an online culture of instant reaction. I remember Michael Ledeen once saying to me, as blogs and all were becoming a hot thing: Lopez, they don’t give awards for getting things wrong first! As the years have passed, I’ve had the luxury, being a wee bit more toward the National Review Institute side than the NRO side, to take some time to pause before writing. That’s a blessing of the tradition begun by Buckley, who welcomed it all. How do we appreciate the past and build on it in good stewardship, with both confidence and humility — and in the moment, but also with reflection and, we pray, some wisdom?
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