Happy New Year. This started out to be a very different column from the way it’s ended up. I was initially going to talk about one of my happiest experiences over the holidays and how it and other events conspired to change my mind about the British monarchy or, more specifically, my attitude to the Queen.
Just to put your minds at rest, here’s what happened and one of the reasons I have new appreciation for our monarch. My granddaughter, who is six, was one of many in the Commonwealth to send a note to wish Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip a happy 70th wedding anniversary. In her best Grade 1 printing, our little girl sent her regards as specified on the Queen’s official website. A very few weeks later she received a reply, a thank-you card on heavy embossed paper featuring a picture of the royal couple on their wedding day and the official photo taken to commemorate their platinum anniversary in November 2017. All of us were quite thrilled to witness this beautiful memento. The nicest part we thought was the Queen, herself, may have seen the original correspondence – apparently she likes to review such missives, and because of the obvious age of the writer and the fact it came from Canada, we thought the little letter has reached Her Majesty’s eyes.
So now you may be wondering what happened to push this momentous event from my top of mind. Well, like many other people, I watched the Golden Globes last Sunday. And like many I thrilled to hear what Oprah had to say directly to little girls of my granddaughter’s age. The star’s sincerity and compassion resounded in her well-said words. So where’s the rub?
Something happened in the aftermath of the award broadcast. As most people reading this know, women were “urged” to wear black as a show of solidarity in the face of ongoing sexual scandals in the entertainment world this past year. And the vast majority of the women attending just did that. But, and this is a big but, some didn’t. This lapse provoked consternation in both the national press and the minions trolling the fake news of Facebook. Why does this bother me?
First of all, the word urge to me does not mean thou must. Secondly, why is it now OK for women to bully other women? For make no mistake, that’s exactly what this is. It seems to me that calling someone an a-hole on social media because she chose to wear a red dress or devoting three-quarters of a newspaper page showing three women (gasp) not wearing black is just about on a par with backing them into a corner and forcing a tongue down their throat. When do you suppose women will ever learn to support other women no matter what they wear or believe? Somehow the new year seems just like the old year to me.
