You know those slide shows you run across on the Web? Well, I got suckered into looking through half of one just a few minutes ago. It was posted on the UK Telegraph’s website, which I had been rummaging through for news that didn’t center on political bickering. Anyway, I stumbled on one entitled “When Prince Charles Becomes King, What Happens to William and Kate?”
Do I really care? Not much. What the Royals do can stay with the Royals, just as what you do can stay with you—this isn’t to imply that your life isn’t extraordinarily interesting, what with all those daily harrowing adventures and extensive world travel to places that receive you as a visiting dignitary. So, as I wasn’t saying, I looked through 16 slides without much interest, finding surprisingly little new information—I knew Prince Charles had served in the Royal Navy, but I had forgotten that he did fly a helicopter and captain a minesweeper (although why I knew that in the first place is a bit of a mystery unless I just put that fact among the trivia I’ve accumulated).
Slide 17 announces that Prince Charles is interested in architecture. Lo and behold! A guy born in Buckingham Palace with innumerable (an exaggeration) country manor retreats available for his use, would, I think pick up some interest in architecture. Aren’t we all a bit interested in buildings, large (like America’s mansions, including the Biltmore Estate) and small (like Lincoln’s childhood cabin home). Heck, I suppose we could say that children playing in big gift boxes are also interested in architecture.
Now, I’m not downplaying the role of the Prince. He’s burned enough fossil fuel in his attempt to save the planet from fossil fuels that I can find no end of praise for his efforts on “my” behalf. And I’m not wallowing in envy for a royal lifestyle provided by not only a current country’s economy, but by some fifteen hundred years of English kingships during which wealth flowed into the royal treasury. People have different lifestyles, and many of those are merely a matter of happenstance, that is, of being born into a family with wealth and national purpose. With those lifestyles—yours, too—comes some readymade interest, like architecture. If your family is royalty, you get to stay in some pretty magnificent abodes, even when you are on the road. I’m guessing, but I don’t know, and I certainly don’t want to pigeonhole a guy who spent about five years in the military, that the Prince ordinarily doesn’t take Camilla to a Days Inn when he’s out saving the planet all around the planet.
Wait! This is making me look like someone who is, in fact, wallowing in envy. That’s a shame because the Prince and I do have much in common, well, at least, an interest in architecture in common. He’s probably far more worldly than I (Should I say, “more cosmopolitan”?), also, having in his background those travels to the far reaches of the planet, meetings with famous people and people in-the-know, and a Jaguar. So, I want to give the Prince credit for the experiences for which he alone is responsible. And I certainly acknowledge that his worldview is probably an expansive overview of life on Earth. I also feel sorry for him. He was in love with Camilla, but Momma Queen didn’t find her an appropriate mate, so he married Diana, and he then waited almost a decade after Diana’s death to marry his first love. Regardless of all the perks the Prince has had, he still had to deal with the emotional downturn in a postponed love.
Remember; this all started with my being suckered into looking at a slide show on the Prince that I found on the UK Telegraph’s website. But the news on that website that first attracted me was an obituary of Shuping Wang, the doctor whose life was the storyline of The King of Hell’s Palace.* Dr. Wang also had cosmopolitan experience. Born Zou Shuping in Henan Province, she was the daughter of a teacher (father) and doctor (mother). Both parents were publicly humiliated because of politics, a spectacle she had to witness. After she courageously exposed epidemics of HIV and hepatitis C in China, Dr. Wang had to flee her native country.
There’s an obvious contrast between the slide show story of Prince Charles and the obituary of Dr. Wang. It’s a contrast that we often overlook in a fast-paced news cycle. For some humans, doing the right thing is a bit easier than for others. There’s no way I want to denigrate the Prince’s efforts to “save” the planet. He has the pulpit, so let him preach earthly salvation from a palace or manor. But in a world with many good people acting to save others, I never knew about Dr. Wang’s efforts and sacrifices to curb the advance of diseases. Certainly, her having to flee her country makes her willingness to take a stand in the face of a hostile government heroic. One woman against a government, as opposed to one Prince who gets to make speeches and drive an electric car seems like the contrast worth noting, not my relatively uneventful nonroyal life.
Back to my knowing any trivia about the Prince, such as the fact he served in the Navy, I have to say I’m sorry my trivial knowledge (my Jeopardy knowledge) didn’t include facts about Dr. Wang’s life. And that makes me wonder what lies beneath all those tombstones in all those cemeteries I’ve passed over the years. What other stories like Dr. Wang’s should I have known at least as a passing fact? What about your story? I don’t know anything about you, your hardships, your sacrifices, or even your princely perks.
Well, I’ve made a start to reeducate myself. I knew some stuff about Prince Charles—though I don’t know when or where I learned it—and I knew nothing about Dr. Wang until now. I have another seven billion or so slide shows to learn in part or whole to cover the living and about 100 billion stories to learn to cover the dead. That’s a big job. I hope I’m up to the task and that I live long enough to get that degree in human lives.
I better get started on those slide shows. Can you send me some pics?
*Owen,Jason.Royals. http://yourbump.com/prince-charles-becomes-king/?spadid=2002724&spcampid=97622&utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=yb_us_d_outbrain_8929_97622&utm_content=00b8ab4a2b4c29afbb4577290635aec09a&spsecid=00bb26248401835cc75f000e6d5f80423d&sppubid=The+Telegraph+UK+%5BG%5D+%28Telegraph+Media+Group+Ltd%29&utm_term=Telegraph&spap=1&dicbo=v1-b2be325c3e4b7a942ccf605edc5ff61d-00a57274a46f47e101d624fd775748bcaa-gazwkyzsg42tkljumy3tkljug44tqllbgjrwgljqmi2gknbvhazwgyzxha&spcid=72435a350afb95354f3a098c9de06df4 Accessed November 23, 2019.
**Telegraph Obituaries 20 Nov 2019 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/11/20/shuping-wang-doctor-forced-flee-west-exposing-epidemics-hiv/ Accessed November 23, 2019.
Do I really care? Not much. What the Royals do can stay with the Royals, just as what you do can stay with you—this isn’t to imply that your life isn’t extraordinarily interesting, what with all those daily harrowing adventures and extensive world travel to places that receive you as a visiting dignitary. So, as I wasn’t saying, I looked through 16 slides without much interest, finding surprisingly little new information—I knew Prince Charles had served in the Royal Navy, but I had forgotten that he did fly a helicopter and captain a minesweeper (although why I knew that in the first place is a bit of a mystery unless I just put that fact among the trivia I’ve accumulated).
Slide 17 announces that Prince Charles is interested in architecture. Lo and behold! A guy born in Buckingham Palace with innumerable (an exaggeration) country manor retreats available for his use, would, I think pick up some interest in architecture. Aren’t we all a bit interested in buildings, large (like America’s mansions, including the Biltmore Estate) and small (like Lincoln’s childhood cabin home). Heck, I suppose we could say that children playing in big gift boxes are also interested in architecture.
Now, I’m not downplaying the role of the Prince. He’s burned enough fossil fuel in his attempt to save the planet from fossil fuels that I can find no end of praise for his efforts on “my” behalf. And I’m not wallowing in envy for a royal lifestyle provided by not only a current country’s economy, but by some fifteen hundred years of English kingships during which wealth flowed into the royal treasury. People have different lifestyles, and many of those are merely a matter of happenstance, that is, of being born into a family with wealth and national purpose. With those lifestyles—yours, too—comes some readymade interest, like architecture. If your family is royalty, you get to stay in some pretty magnificent abodes, even when you are on the road. I’m guessing, but I don’t know, and I certainly don’t want to pigeonhole a guy who spent about five years in the military, that the Prince ordinarily doesn’t take Camilla to a Days Inn when he’s out saving the planet all around the planet.
Wait! This is making me look like someone who is, in fact, wallowing in envy. That’s a shame because the Prince and I do have much in common, well, at least, an interest in architecture in common. He’s probably far more worldly than I (Should I say, “more cosmopolitan”?), also, having in his background those travels to the far reaches of the planet, meetings with famous people and people in-the-know, and a Jaguar. So, I want to give the Prince credit for the experiences for which he alone is responsible. And I certainly acknowledge that his worldview is probably an expansive overview of life on Earth. I also feel sorry for him. He was in love with Camilla, but Momma Queen didn’t find her an appropriate mate, so he married Diana, and he then waited almost a decade after Diana’s death to marry his first love. Regardless of all the perks the Prince has had, he still had to deal with the emotional downturn in a postponed love.
Remember; this all started with my being suckered into looking at a slide show on the Prince that I found on the UK Telegraph’s website. But the news on that website that first attracted me was an obituary of Shuping Wang, the doctor whose life was the storyline of The King of Hell’s Palace.* Dr. Wang also had cosmopolitan experience. Born Zou Shuping in Henan Province, she was the daughter of a teacher (father) and doctor (mother). Both parents were publicly humiliated because of politics, a spectacle she had to witness. After she courageously exposed epidemics of HIV and hepatitis C in China, Dr. Wang had to flee her native country.
There’s an obvious contrast between the slide show story of Prince Charles and the obituary of Dr. Wang. It’s a contrast that we often overlook in a fast-paced news cycle. For some humans, doing the right thing is a bit easier than for others. There’s no way I want to denigrate the Prince’s efforts to “save” the planet. He has the pulpit, so let him preach earthly salvation from a palace or manor. But in a world with many good people acting to save others, I never knew about Dr. Wang’s efforts and sacrifices to curb the advance of diseases. Certainly, her having to flee her country makes her willingness to take a stand in the face of a hostile government heroic. One woman against a government, as opposed to one Prince who gets to make speeches and drive an electric car seems like the contrast worth noting, not my relatively uneventful nonroyal life.
Back to my knowing any trivia about the Prince, such as the fact he served in the Navy, I have to say I’m sorry my trivial knowledge (my Jeopardy knowledge) didn’t include facts about Dr. Wang’s life. And that makes me wonder what lies beneath all those tombstones in all those cemeteries I’ve passed over the years. What other stories like Dr. Wang’s should I have known at least as a passing fact? What about your story? I don’t know anything about you, your hardships, your sacrifices, or even your princely perks.
Well, I’ve made a start to reeducate myself. I knew some stuff about Prince Charles—though I don’t know when or where I learned it—and I knew nothing about Dr. Wang until now. I have another seven billion or so slide shows to learn in part or whole to cover the living and about 100 billion stories to learn to cover the dead. That’s a big job. I hope I’m up to the task and that I live long enough to get that degree in human lives.
I better get started on those slide shows. Can you send me some pics?
*Owen,Jason.Royals. http://yourbump.com/prince-charles-becomes-king/?spadid=2002724&spcampid=97622&utm_source=outbrain&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=yb_us_d_outbrain_8929_97622&utm_content=00b8ab4a2b4c29afbb4577290635aec09a&spsecid=00bb26248401835cc75f000e6d5f80423d&sppubid=The+Telegraph+UK+%5BG%5D+%28Telegraph+Media+Group+Ltd%29&utm_term=Telegraph&spap=1&dicbo=v1-b2be325c3e4b7a942ccf605edc5ff61d-00a57274a46f47e101d624fd775748bcaa-gazwkyzsg42tkljumy3tkljug44tqllbgjrwgljqmi2gknbvhazwgyzxha&spcid=72435a350afb95354f3a098c9de06df4 Accessed November 23, 2019.
**Telegraph Obituaries 20 Nov 2019 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/11/20/shuping-wang-doctor-forced-flee-west-exposing-epidemics-hiv/ Accessed November 23, 2019.
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