God Shut Up About the Queen

Hopefully, enough time has passed now. Out of respect, I've been holding off on posting this particular blog. It's always (almost always) sad when someone dies. People die every day. Unless the dearly departed people are close family or friends, most of us don't spend an extended amount of time or emotion mourning their loss. I don't, anyway. That's not to say that I don't empathize with those around me who have lost loved ones because I do. I've been in that situation. I've lost close friends and family members. It's a loss that can be very difficult to come to terms with. I get it. What I don't get is why millions and millions of people are so fixated with the passing of Queen Elizabeth.

She obviously led a full life. 96 years. Can you imagine? She also led a life of privilege and prestige because, well, she was royal. Royalty. In this modern day and age, we still have kings, queens, princes, and princesses who are revered and honored because they are royal. It's laughable to me. Royal people are just rich people who, somewhere along the line in history, had a title bestowed upon them or just simply had a great-great-great-great-great grandfather who declared himself King. There's no such thing as royal blood. We know this as a scientific fact. And yet millions of people in Britain swoon over Queen Elizabeth and the rest of the royal family. 

While they have no real political power, they have plenty of influence and are still included in various ceremonial/political events. As if they were something special. Millions of British subjects will argue they are. They're not. They're just incredibly rich, privileged people who genuinely think (most of them, anyway) they are better than everyone else. They're royal. Yeah. OK. We have a similar thing going on here in America with famous actors, singers, athletes, and super-rich people. Or how about the people, like the Kardashians, who are just famous for being famous. Yeah. Pretty stupid, if you ask me. All these people with all this money -ungodly sums of money- and millions of people idolize them for being rich. Or being royal. Shouldn't we be evaluating or honoring people for what they've done to further this human race rather than how much money they've managed to pack away or how many headlines they manage to generate in the news for utterly stupid things - like simply being royal? I guess not. 

What a grand spectacle it has been this past week. The Queen died after ruling for over70 years! OK. But what did she actually do that is worth all of this pomp and circumstance; all this adoration? By all accounts she was a fine queen. She knew her role and played her part flawlessly all these years while leading a life of great privilege and luxury. Her and her clan were more or less taken care of by the British government. The government added to their great riches and required very little -if any- taxes in return. But what did the queen actually do? She attended ceremonies and presided over purely for-show traditional duties that a royal is expected to do. She spent her time in a castle or traveling among the dozen or so other opulent properties owned by the royal family. She rode in parades so all her loyal subjects could cast praise upon her as she rolled on by; waving; royally. But what did she actually accomplish? Well, she reigned as Queen for over 70 years! Is that an accomplishment? Was that a terribly difficult thing to do when you have your every whim and wish taken care of by an army of servants? Let's face it, if she wanted to, she could spend the entire day or week or month lying in bed eating chocolate-covered strawberries and sipping mimosas. She had no real necessity in the British government. Just to be the Queen. She was upholding a tradition that, frankly, should have died out decades ago. That was her 'job' for which she was paid handsomely and very well taken care of. She didn't end famine or broker peace in the Middle East. She didn't save the whales are end apartheid. She just played her part as queen. Yet, for no real reason that I can think of other than tradition, she is being exalted in death as if she were some other-worldly supreme being because, well, millions of people genuinely believe she was. She wasn't. She was a regular human being just the same as you and I. She was just fortunate enough to be born into an extremely rich, extremely privileged family. Was she a genuinely nice person? I don't know. Was she a good mother? No clue. But even if she was both of those things, it still doesn't justify the amount of hullabaloo that her death has caused around the world and especially in Britain. It just boggles my mind. The gal led a rich, full, pampered life while many of her so-called royal subjects suffered in poverty and lives full of futile struggle. She had 96 years of privilege. Never had to worry about where her next meal was coming from or if she would have a safe comfortable place to sleep. I'm not saying her friends and family shouldn't be sad about her passing. I would hope she had lots of friends and family that genuinely loved her. Her death with be a loss to them, no doubt. But her death is no more important that my mom's death or my neighbor's brother's death. But because she inherited this title of queen -along with all the money and privilege that goes along with that title- her passing is somehow more important. Bullshit. Just another rich, famous person who has died. God save the queen? Nah, at this point GOD SHUT UP ABOUT THE QUEEN!