The Conservative Mind

So, I recently read The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk. I only heard of it fairly recently but this book, published in the 1950's apparently launched conservatism as a serious movement in this country. Not what the Fox News variety but real, thinking, philosophical conservatism. Perhaps I'll discuss exactly what the difference between the two is another time. Rest assured, it's a big, big difference.
In any case, I picked it up at a book store in Mecosta, home of the Kirk Center and it was at the conference there that I started to really have an important thought. As I sat there in a room full of authors, professors, on priest and a couple of young intellectual heavy-weights to be I realized that on one level, I and my friend being just regular guys with regular jobs were more than a little out of place. And yet, we are also in a way the more important people who were at that conference for the simple fact that we are the regular guys. We are the ones who are out in the normal 9-5 world, down in the trenches as it were. We are the ones who have the ability to influence those around us, in a way more than all the authors and all media types in the world.
The reason I am telling you this is that as I was reading the forward to The Conservative Mind last night, Kirk made mention of the influence the book had on the "real shapers of public opinion; the thinking men and women" who speak with and influence their neighbors. This got me thinking a bit more. Mostly about how little interaction and influence we have with our neighbors these days. This is in part due to technology which allows us to cut ourselves off from those around us and huddle up with others like ourselves so that we never have to seriously confront other viewpoints. It also due to the general fear our culture has of engaging in serious conversation, especially about politics and religion. There really isn't much that can be said here (by me at least) except that we, including myself simply need to get over it and stick our necks out a bit. I'm not saying go all Old Testament prophet on your nearest co-worker or anything, but simply jump into a conversation or bring up some small thing that might strike up a worthwhile conversation. Because Kirk's observation is only true if we come out of fear-armored technology bubbles and interact at more than superficial level with those around us.
Alright, that's it for now. I'll probably post some more thoughts on this book in the near future.