Post 474 - September 12, 2022
When Notre-Dame burned down in Paris, we all lost something. It was a venerable old building dedicated to the highest ideals of the Catholic church. Like the oldest of trees in a forest, it withstood the murderous doings of men far longer than many of its sister houses did. Centuries of supplicants brought an energy to it that made it more than just wood and stone. Notre-Dame, even with throngs of tourists, radiated a profound sense of peace and stability. It also, unfortunately, was a symbol for many of the immense failings and venal hypocrisy of the Catholic church. Those who only saw it that way, cheered as the flames consumed it, and then railed against its reconstruction, while the rest sobbed in disbelief and tried to fill the empty space it left behind.
So, which was it? Like so much in our world, Notre-Dame was firmly and resolutely both.
The world’s reaction to the passing of Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, is following along much the same lines. For some, she embodied the highest ideals of Britain. For others, she was a symbol of her nation’s colonialism, racism, barbarianism, and all the other crimes against humanity done in her name. For most, I think, she was simply our grandmother. A person we didn’t know very well but who was always there and whom we loved in our own way, despite her very human failings.
We try. We all try. Yes, we always seem to fall short of achieving our ideals, but generation after generation of human beings from the time we first crawled out of the ooze have each given it a go. It may be that we are simply not made to succeed as moral creatures. Perhaps there is still too much of that swamp in our bones to ever be able to fully rise above it. Everything we touch seems to fall apart.
While people have taken to their keyboards to comment on the Queen’s death, the announcement that the Florida-sized Thwaites glacier in Antarctica is “hanging on by its fingers” does not seem to have made much of an impression at all. It’s going to break off and it’s going to melt. It is the size of FLORIDA. Think about that for a minute. It has the potential to raise the level of the world’s oceans by ten feet. How much of the world’s land is at our current sea level? How much of Florida is at current sea level? All of that will be underwater. It might be too late to stop it now because we’ve dragged our heels so much, but judging by the global reaction, we aren’t even going to try. Perhaps the public energy surrounding the British royals might be better used elsewhere.
With the end of her reign now at hand, India is asking, yet again, for the return of the Koh-i-Noor diamond that was taken from the young Maharaja of Lahore after the Anglo-Sikh war. The diamond was discovered in the 14th century and has switched hands many times since then. In 1847, the British separated the ten-year-old Maharaja from his mother and sent him to London. In 1849, they forced him to hand over the diamond as part of the treaty to end the war.
The original stone weighed 186 carats. After 1849, it was recut to its present size of 105.6 carats and set into the crown that was used during Queen Elizabeth’s coronation. It is meant to be unlucky for men to wear it, so during Charles’ coronation, Camilla will wear it. This stolen diamond will glitter and shine above the head of the woman who will be crowned Queen Consort and, thereby, represents her entire country.
Should England return the “Mountain of Light?” If it were to be returned, should it be given to the descendants of the Maharaja or to those of the poor miner who dug it up? Should they also return the marble sculptures that they took from the Parthenon in Greece “ ostensibly for their own good?” Should the United States return the innumerable pieces of Native American art that were taken from their original owners, and we overran them? Should we return their land?
We humans have been stealing stuff from each other since the beginning. We’ve even stolen each other. You can point to the church or point to Great Britain and shake a disapproving finger at them, but who among us is innocent? Who among us is not living on land that originally belonged to someone else and living a life born of the blood of others?
Great Britain is not an entity that perpetrated crimes against humanity, and more than the Third Reich was. It is a group of people who to this very day act together in the world and make these decisions. It isn’t the government who won’t return the diamond to India, it is the British people. Their government merely represents their wishes.
Notre-Dame represents what the Catholic Church aspires to be but never seems to achieve. Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith was merely a woman who did her best to embody the ideals of her country to help steer her people in the direction they wanted to go. She captained her ship with grace, utter steadfastness, and dignity. She never publicly commented on anything political. That wasn’t her job. Her job was just to be. She posed for artists so her face to be put on money and stamps to give them a sense of reassuring and enduring value and then went out for a walk with her dogs. Like any decent symbol, people ascribed motives and meaning to every facet of her being. All of that said far more about the people doing the ascribing than it ever did about her. She soldiered on through decades fulfilling her duty for longer than any other reigning monarch in the world’s history.
She wasn’t my Queen, and I have little interest in the comings and goings of her family. I do, however, respect the fact that we need people like her to represent the best in us. We should have somebody looking down at us with a slight frown while we go off and do things like go to war to take what we want from each other. We should be better than we are, but I fear that it just isn’t in our nature for that to happen.
I don’t know that Charles has it in him to occupy the same space that his mother did. It isn’t, however, for me to decide. The British people will decide. Like the French, they will either build back their Notre-Dame exactly as it was, or they may try something new. In this period of transition where everything is uncertain there is already renewed discussion around the Commonwealth of withdrawal and succession. Charles will need to create his own illusion of stability to keep the Kingdom together.
Regardless, for her moment in history, she was the perfect person for the job she was handed. Some may say that the job was unnecessary, but I would say that it was very much needed. What she symbolized is sorely lacking now more than ever. We may never see her like again.
Thank you for your unfailing service to your loyal subjects and the rest of us not-so-loyal lookers-on. Rest in peace, Ma’am.
Wonderful post!