cross-posted at Liberty's Spirit
I know why the British care. It’s the continuation of their monarchy.
Something most Brits will tell you they actually like. But the question
is why do we in the US of A care? We fought a war over 230 years ago
just so we would not have to care about the British monarchy. Yet
somehow England remains part and parcel of our daily lives. Afterall we
do speak some form of English don’t we? And until Obama, according to
the American government, England was a respected, major American ally
(much like Israel). So what is it about the UK that we just can’t get
enough of?
I think it’s the modern-day fairytale. Here a handsome prince meets
his future princess, a commoner, and falls in love. Defying royal
convention he marries her. And unlike his Nazi-loving great Uncle,
actually gets to remain in line for the throne. It doesn’t hurt either
that his philanthropic-mother was much-loved around the world, with the
common-person coming to her defense because she was treated so shabbily
by the same royal family who embraces today’s commoner-princess. (The
monarchy should really thank Tony Blair for pulling them out of their
medieval mentality and saving them from the proverbial guillotine.) But
is this story just too much like a Disney production and too “little
girls in pink poofy dresses” ? Too un-feminist? Too much a facilitation
of codependency?
Truly, people love fairy tales, not just little girls. We all want to
meet our special someone, to live with them in love and happiness til
death do us part. It in fact is really all that we ask isn’t it? (OK
some ask to control the world, but I am talking about the sane people
among us.)
All human beings merely want is to love and be loved. The vast
majority of us will not make a mark on this world beyond our own little
circle. Yet to have someone care that we exist in this world and to
remember us for a while after we are gone is truly all that we really
desire. Sadly though, so many in our modern society have such a hard
time finding and then keeping love, that we sometimes forget that a
special love can and does exist. We forget that there actually can be
something unique between just two people. That two people can really
shut the world out and become one.
Witnessing a love that is so open and so grand brings the entire
human race just that much closer to survival really. When we see love,
real love, so openly displayed in a world that is absolutely hell-bent
on tearing itself apart at any given moment, we celebrate that love. It
is a commitment to the future of humanity. And there is no better
commitment to the future than a newborn babe.
When a baby comes into this world it is with hope. Who knows what any
child will be and what joy they will give? Who knows what discoveries
any child will make or whose tears they will calm? Who knows which baby
will be the one to change the course of human history for the better?
Moreover a baby, any baby, shows us that tomorrow there will be another
sunrise and a continued hope for a future filled with happiness and joy.
So yes the fairytale continues. The son of the much mistreated
much-loved princess and his commoner sweetheart will become parents
soon. In truth, however, our desire to watch this pregnancy isn’t really
about this couple whom not a one of us will ever meet. It is mostly
about each and every one of us. This young couple is merely the public
embodiment of everything we each wish for secretly. A future of peace
and prosperity for ourselves and our children.
My parent’s wedding song. They were married 53 years.
