From the drawing room at Piety Hill you can peer through the window, down the snow-covered lane, and see dozens of trees that Russell Kirk planted.

This tree planting wasn't simply a diversion, or an enlightened horticultural act for Russell.  He was practicing piety.

Here in what Russell called "stump country," he was again planting trees, renewing the land, and making provision for future generations.

Russell wrote that the virtue of pietas is “an atmosphere of diffuse gratitude: gratitude not merely to the generations that have preceded us in this life, but gratitude toward the eternal order, and the source of that order, which raises man above the brutes, and makes art man’s nature."

It is an understanding that day by day, year after year, we enjoy the fruits of the intellectual, moral and physical labor of those who have come before us. And while recognizing the necessity of prudential and natural change, we have a sense of the value of continuity in civilized life both to our living community and to posterity.

It was out of reverence that Russell made cultural renewal his work, in which his public labors and his personal life were integrated.

As we at Piety Hill give thanks this week, we also want to extend our thanks to you as part of our “little platoon” in the shared endeavor of cultural renewal.

Whether your vocation is raising children or providing goods in your community, leading a classroom or congregation, healing the sick or tilling the soil—your labor is not in vain.  You are part of the “contract of eternal society,” in Burke’s evocative phrase.

From Piety Hill, we send you our warmest wishes for a blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends.

Sincerely,

Annette Kirk, President
The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal

P.S. Please keep the Kirk Center in mind next week on Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2019. Your year-end support is vital as we look ahead to new programs and outreach in 2020.