Burial plots

I was dreaming last night about where my ex-wife’s father will be buried.  It’s an odd thought, but very, very few Americans are buried in the town where they were born.  We move around too much.  Children leave their parents as a matter of course, and not infrequently parents leave their children.  We have little sense of place, which is something burial grounds have always more or less literally embodied.

In Israel, they have the Tomb of the Patriarchs.  This place is sacred because it is thought be where the ancient forebears of the Jews, Christians and Muslims were buried.  The bodies and the place are connected in a sacred way.

Here is, to me, an interesting thought: I think it is likely that nearly 100% of the people who have family burial plots they plan to be buried in eventually voted for Trump.  Rooted people voted for Trump.  People who feel a sense of place voted for Trump.

Put more broadly, conservatives might be seen as those who feel there is something in their lives worth conserving, worth protecting.  They don’t think of “humanity”, but their own little neck of the woods, their little lives, the people they know, the local coffee shop, their church, their favorite fishing hole.

This is vastly better than being a nihilist who claims to be capable of believing everything.  As a general rule, if your goal is to “save humanity”, and your plan involves something other than bringing out the best in everyone, you are a narcissistic liar.

I might go on, might qualify, but you get the gist of it.  I will ignore my inner pedant for now.