A Royal Wedding

The news today carried the nth photo of the royal grandson and his betrothed looking happy and charming and as always, well coifed.  I confess to having found the photo and others like it utterly uninteresting.

This is not to say that I wish the happy couple ill or that I don’t think marriage a good thing. It’s worked out pretty well for yours truly. I simply don’t know why anyone outside of England would find this wedding to be of any particular interest.   It’s not like either of them has ever done anything notable.

On the other hand, the magazine racks are full of covers proclaiming Hollywood divorces, the latest in cosmetic surgery and the latest foibles of grown men who make millions playing children’s games. Someone killed someone else, another person cheated a whole bunch of third party someones, children were abused or ignored, and half the world hates us for being rich, for being mongrels, for being infidels and too often, just for being. So maybe a touch of royal worship isn’t the worst story in the world. But still, is this news?

I think we can do better. I think there’s lots of news worth printing. Try these:

·         A band named “Flame” tours the world, demonstrating to music lovers that disabilities do not have to be defining. The band members daily deal with their Down syndrome, autism, blindness, cognitive deficit and cerebral palsy. Do a search and check them out.  You’ll be uplifted and ashamed at your own little aches and pains.

·         As I write this, a group of students from the Sammamish High School Amnesty International Club are hosting Jamnesty, a concert to raise money for four human rights charities.

·         Yesterday, a young woman named Ellye, intent on doing her best at an audition for Eastman School of Music, holed up in an empty restroom at JFK to practice her flute one last time. Just in pursuit of excellence.

·         Another young  woman named Courtney, not yet recovered from serious and painful abdominal surgery, takes time to encourage her cousin in her school pursuits and to thank her parents for, well, being her parents.

·         Around this world, millions and millions of moms and dads got up this morning before they’d like, went off and spent the day working at jobs they might or might not have found enjoyable and then came home and immersed themselves in feeding, bathing, coaching and tutoring their children. Because that’s what parents do. And tomorrow morning, before they’d like to be awake, they’ll get up and start the cycle over.

·         Somewhere in the United States, a young man or woman is lying awake, unable to sleep because tomorrow morning (s)he reports for military training. It doesn’t matter whether I agree with America’s wars. What matters is that year after year, young people choose to put themselves between their country and danger. And I honor them.

There is news worth printing. It’s just way too seldom that we print it.