Jumping the Royal Broom

Like any Hollywood script, this wedding is being described as more sequel than original, especially in its story line. New players, yes; and while we debate whether Lee J. Cobb was better than George C. Scott in "Death of a Salesman," the classic gesture of pushing the hat back of the forehead still applies.

But let's go wide angle as we think. In the intervening years between his parents wedding and his own, the young future King William and his serene, extraordinary bride, Catherine, have noved along the frontier edge of change.

In Africa, where the royal couple got engaged--the birthplace of the human family--HIV infections are rampant over the continent, with the average life expectancy dropping rapidly each year. Mothers are dying, leaving children to be raised by grandmothers of a different generation or as orphans. The human cost of this scourge far outweighs the high hope we have for the new royal couple, and one hopes only that William remembers his sainted mother's commitment to assist in the prevention, control, and provision of services for the those infected and diseased. His mother holding an HIV infected child on a visit is one of the most enduring images I have of the former Princess.

Elsewhere, marriages ebb and flow. In america, straight people, uninfiltrated by the removed associations of those who seek marriage intra-gender, are either not marrying or divorcing in numbers not seen since the beginning of the human millenium. On the other hand, those in intra-gender relationships are actively seeking the priviledge to marry partners of their choice, of any sex.

America televises "Glee" (no "Death of a Salesman"), with its long guy kisses and sub-plots and schemes regarding teenage sexuality and preference and the Moral Majority has not called for a boycott or taken to the air waves. I guess they are to busy inserting big government into the reproductive lives of women, dismantling institutions, defunding health provisions, and even legalizing rape (well, trying too) to turn America back to the stone age as they throw stones at Islam, which they declare allows (they say) men to beat their wives, ignoring the differences in culture between practices in feudal societies and post-industrial America and the progress of history where Islamic women--as women everywhere, especially in the Congo, where 15,000 women a year were sexually assaulted during the course of political violence--are rising to redefine their liberty, opportunities, freedoms, and quality of life.

Hillary Clinton needs a serious shout-out for her active, engaging behind-the-scenes commitment to empowering women through networking, dialogue, community organizing, and opening up legal avenues and positions of power. Her work may well be the most successful and lasting legacy of the present administration. She is tireless in touching the lives of women worldwide.

She, too, participated in a wonderful wedding; a fairy tale that took over a town. It's good to know the republic and the realm have maintained the highest of hope for the most enduring institution on the planet and have done so with a style over which we can all marvel.

If Obama can leave the White House without showing his pass book or his day pass, maybe his own daughters can dream of a world that, one day in their lifetime, will honor and cherish women and girls and their rights and celebrate the joys of both love and freedom.