What Does This Mean

Queen Elizabeth II passed away at the Royal retreat, Balmoral, Scotland on Thursday, 8th September 2022 surrounded by her family. The most thoughtful and loving personal messages are being sent from throughout the world from politicians, celebrities and everyday people – a poignant wave of grief from the heart of the Scottish highland. TV and radio coverage was paused to give the message … we were watching football at the time (of course) and the footage cut to a presenter in black … I remember my mum saying: ‘oh dear’, then a few moments after, I worked out what was happening. News in the day said the Queen was unwell but you don’t quite believe it due to her ever-presence. Now my heart, mind and hands are in a conscience crisis and I thought doing some writing would help conflicting feelings find meaning.

Trying desperately to strip the religious connotations, the rainbow for me symbolises the need for forgiveness and the need for hope. When I see one, I try to forgive someone I have fallen out with whilst probably finding shelter from rain. The rich tapestry of history and human understanding is written by all generations and viewpoints, but I don’t think anyone could not stop, even for a second and be humbled by a rainbow happening at this time.

So, the first wave of emotion was shock and sadness for a family that won’t have a Grandma and for all the families saying goodbye to their Grandmas. Every loving parent deserves this level of outpouring of love… and maybe this is where my emotions stem from. Everyone who met her talks about her ability to make everyone round her feel special. Ability to get what you’re going through. Not an actor’s smile but a genuine warm glow and a want to find time to get to know the people she was meeting. Elizabeth put duty first. A fierce belief in peace and to find ways to achieve it… Her determinations to extend a stay at the border in Ireland and bear witness at the Irish loss of young life fighting for freedom, is one moment that speaks louder than words.  

We can all project the beauty and humanity of our own friends and families onto her extraordinary life – a true embodiment of motherhood and trying to do your best…

But then as the figure-head of the royal family, discourses around colonialism, industrial slave trade, horrendous amount of wealth and privilege is synonymous.

Source: BBC

This juxtaposed image is a reminder of the reality of monarchy. In one seat, a state-sponsored mafia boss who, throughout their career employs terror and corruption. Some-one who intimate and harms their way through an abused people, but is less than a pawn in a virtual mafia state. The other seat, the smiling symbol of the corruption of billions of pounds made from historical exploitation, manipulation and cultural appropriation.

And then I saw this and my emotions were wrenched back to what we had just lost... She meant so much to so many:

I definitely need to stop looking at these pictures – my tears are starting to annoy people!

As slightly left of Bernie Sanders, I believe that true equality will only be achieved in a republic and inherent wealth, especially at this level, is both ugly and unproductive in a free society. But Queen Elizabeth was born into this and didn’t really have a choice but to represent and promote the ideal of a monarchy for the greater good. She was an outstanding example of making the best of a bad job. Britain, and as one of the symbols of, Elizabeth also represents the colossal task of repairing the damage the idea of Empire has done to communities around the world. It was Britain’s ruling class greed in the industrial revolution and the on-going pursuit of profit at the expense of environment and community, that started climate change – all in the name of royal monarch at the time.

I think she started to repair that damage. Of course, surrounded by luxury and boundless resilience with wealth beyond reason, but she worked hard… really hard! She never put a foot wrong and the limelight was never really off her. With a genuine need to understand and a desire to spread a sense of humour, she was brilliant. I think that is really where my grief has come from: that evening the darkest of institutions, they are individuals who are making a difference and lighting up people’s worlds. This sense of stability and someone to depend upon to do the right thing, even in a dangerous hierarchical institution like the British monarchy, will be missed and is fuelling this grief (and if you are a royalist, even more so and/or in different way). I think TLDR’s youtube update goes some way to keep a sense of groundedness as they detail what the next few days might look like – hopefully it gives some foundation to people who need it most at the time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zs3VYQzpAkg.

Source: BBC

In other news, my 4yr old nephew just put his shoe on with one hand, yes little one – just thought I’d share