My dog Lucy died a week ago Monday. I wept. Queen Elizabeth II died three days later. I didn’t shed a tear. Still, I feel a bond between our grieving family and the grieving royal family.
Grief is grief. Death is death. Love is love.
Lucy was laid to rest in a hand-dug grave under a tree at the head of our nature trail. Elizabeth will be laid to rest in a gilded casket at Windsor Castle. Whose life was more precious, more fated? According to the ancient Hebrew sage, neither.
The fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath. Humans have no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place, all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Ecclesiastes 3.19-21
(I don’t expect that verse to be read at Her Majesty’s funeral.)
I’ve been watching the British spectacle sporadically. I’ll probably watch the funeral. I disdain monarchy, but I’ve been enthralled—and equally appalled—by the pomp and circumstances and ostentatious wealth.
What a show!
Herald trumpets sporting banners, town criers with scrolls, 18th-century uniforms and plumes, Holyrood Castle, St. Giles’ Cathedral, the Company of Archers, the archbishop of Canterbury, the Household Mounted Cavalry Regiment, the Garter King of Arms (hip, hip, hooray), the royals in fresh resplendence at every event, Westminster Abbey, choirs, incense, bells, bells, and more bells.
No one does pageantry like the Brits.
And, of course, no one does inquisitions like the Spanish, or coups like Americans.
(I jest, but not really.)
We dodged an attempted coup right on our door steps. It wasn’t defeated. It retreated. It’s biding its time.
The Brits say, God save the king. Americans must now say, God save the people.
God save the people from ignorance. God save the people from apathy. God save the people from despair. God save the people from tyranny.
Except God doesn’t do that.
We must save ourselves. We must muster the wisdom, the will, and the way to save ourselves before fascism destroys our “sweet land of liberty.”
When the Brits sing their monarchical hymn, “God Save the King,” we recognize the tune. It’s the tune that carries an American democratic anthem, which more than ever needs to be sung with our whole hearts.
Let freedom ring!
Remember in Roe-vember (not confusing issues here)
Bravo! Your words capture the essence of our situations, both past and present, As we respectfully bury Queen Elizabeth, let us not bury the unvarnished truth of oppression and colonialism under her reign. May we not be lost in pageantry but have an eye toward history. After all, as William Cullen Bryant asserted, “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.”
It seems impossible that the USA should be at risk of losing democracy. Those of the Brits who, like me, shed no tears for Queen Elizabeth — who aren’t even watching the TV spectacle — nevertheless rejoice that the head of politics can never be head of state.
Thanks so much. Democracy began here. Pray it doesn’t end here…by the will of those who vote.
God Save the People…Let Freedom Ring…and Vote!
yes. i’m intrigued by all these responses. They come from all over as do we. A friend of mine from Africa sent me a clip about the Empress of Ethiopia and Haile Selassie. If you do a little research u will find very interesting information about major African empires. and of course there were others. But, I say while the British bury their last monarch and embrace the next, let us not forget why this United States came to be and how it came to be and the form those founders envisioned. and on how many backs it came to be. Let us not forget. Read everything. Discuss always. Learn to disagree civilly and find answers without killing one another. Can we fix this? Maybe.
I have this thing about costumes. The Generallisimo ormulu character is the worst, of course; regardless of whether it is a golden chair or a little piglet with a big head; the gold braid is just silly- In the Norse language “orm” means “snake”. “Snakeman” Ok. I can see why a military type would want to wear that, and the ribbons must be from the tatters of the scarf their girlfriend gave them. But making the Head House Man wear a purple pants suit is beyond my comprehension.
The fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath. Humans have no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place, all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Ecclesiastes 3.19-21
I was not familiar with this verse, and am totally ignorant of the theological thinking about it. But it brought to mind the statement of State Sen. Azinger (a repub) about the “spark” scientists have identified when an egg is fertilized. He used that finding a basis for his opposition to any abortion, at any time, no matter the circumstances.
I googled this “spark” and learned that it was first identified in studies of animals — dogs, I think.
If the author of Ecclesiastes is correct, this “spark” has the same significance for humans as it does for dogs. But humans are different, and the difference, I like to think, is the soul. So, for me the question is not when does the “spark” occur, but when does the soul attach. There are, of course, many thoughts about that, but I do not think the soul attaches until there has been some very significant development of the fetus, although it is beyond me say at what state.
If you wonder why this came to mind, take a look at the Facebook page for Senator Hannah Geffert and see the op-ed which appeared in today’s Gazette.
Interesting thought… when does the soul enter the body?
Having just read an exert from Richard Rohr on the name of God and how in Judaism its really a breath. When you breathe in it’s YH and when you breathe out it’s WH; perhaps the soul enters the body upon our first breath?
Doesn’t seem to far like a stretch whenever we consider the soul leaves the body upon your last breath. Just a thought….
My personal belief (there’s that word,”belief”) is that the “soul” never “attaches.” Soul is everywhere and it is eternal.
Nice thought. I’m still sad for your loss. Not really sad but certainly nostalgic at the death of the Queen.
Speaking 0f queens, I just arrived in Honolulu for some meetings with my Pacific Islanders. Hawai’ians once had a country of their own, with longstanding Royals. Then came the Brits, then the Americans, whalers, missionaries (“They came to do Good and they did very well!”) and of course our navy. It wasn’t too long before we kicked poor Queen Liliokalani out of her palace once and for all, and though Hawai’i is ostensibly “ours,” Americans today share the islands with a majority mix of Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and other Asians and Pacific Islanders. Native Hawai’ians are just a small and shrinking minority, but they remain very vocal about wanting their country back. At minimum, they think they should be on the reparations list too. It is good to be American and not part of all that evil British colonial pomp and circumstance!
I am so pleased to read your contributions, these same discussions and going deep, come up in my mind. it so nice to share these great insights with others. Pageantry seems to be a human thing, Brits in red coats, gild, swords and flags. Trumpism in red ties, gild, guns, and flags on pick up trucks. Sigh. We all make it happen. The Queen of England represents a time span, our time span. All the hoopla is for us, whether we like it or not. I watch too, but I also watch documentaries about animals, one being the spectacle of pregnant Whale Sharks passing the Galapagos Islands on their way to somewhere in the deep ocean, gathering to do something mysterious to us (not for feeding or mating) maybe birthing… but I think now they are having a pageant.
You said it before I could!
We are witnessing the passing of an age (colonialism being considered acceptable), and the queen is it’s foremost symbol. Putin is sure trying but the most of the world doesn’t like it.
China? Seems mostly about control. Expansion to a lesser extent. Don’t know how our current situation in the USA will play out; whether our democratic experiment with fairness will prevail, but I sue hope enough of us vote to keep it!
“They all have the same breath-“- I believe (“believe”) that validates my personal belief that “soul” is everywhere and eternal.
People seem to need pageantry , and it’s how the powerful placate the huddled masses by letting them live vicariously for a moment. The masses go along with this!
The burial of a beloved dog comes from the heart.