DAY 34: jaded on royalty

To start off TLC's Royal Wedding Week, they showed the footage of the Wedding of the Century--Princess Diana and Prince Charles. They showed the gown, the guests, the bride and groom, the entire ceremony. And I didn't watch a single second of it.

WHY? That was my mom's unphrased question. Why am I not watching something that many would kill to watch, if only they had cable?

Because I'm bitter. Yeah, bitter about royals and their messed-up lives.

I used to think blue bloods were at the top of the heap. They were people who ruled countries and determined the lives of many. They were confined to the rigors of their birthright, but they let loose once in a while and try to become normal, with always the thought of going back to their stiff images and sacrificing their happiness for the good of their people.

Yeah, that was a twelve-year-old's idealism. A twelve-year-old who read too much and did not care much for the TV.

But as I grew older, I saw nothing that resembles my ideal royalty. The kings and queens no longer ruled their countries; instead, they became mere figureheads that cut ribbons and attend galas and don a blue sash that reminded people of their past. They think nothing about "sacrificing their happiness" for the sake of others--because there was no need to. They are just ordinary human beings who, thanks to their great-great-grandfathers, live inside castles paid for by the taxes of the people whom they do nothing for. I expected them to all be a little more than Princess Diana. I expected them to be constantly trying to solve their country's problems, but instead, I learned that their average day consisted of partying hard and racking up scandal after scandal just to show people that they're still alive. They divorce as easily as they marry, and they and their kids end up with dysfunctional lives complete with eating disorders, fourth wives, and an addiction to drugs.

Well, good for them. So, do they have any other use?

Yes, I'm bitter over a broken ideal. But it's more than just the bitterness of a kid who discovered that Santa wasn't real after all. What made me bitter was the way they wasted the opportunity given to them to make a difference. They could've done so much with that influence, that money, that private jet. They could've campaigned for literacy, could've opened up an orphanage and helped manage it, could've started a new school for the underprivileged, could've done a thousand-and-one things better than spending the night with their lovers and making the tabloid headlines the next day.

Being a royal must be frickin hard, sure, having to dodge the paparazzi, having maintain an image, having to watch that the press does not find a bulge in your belly, etc. But couldn't they step up and do something more constructive with their spare time? Sheeesh. This is not to say all royals are wasting their time, but sometimes, the press is so darned concerned about what they wear, where they go, who they date, that royalty becomes nothing more than tabloid fodder. Is it so much to ask that they do something more?

There. That's my unreasonable love-hate story with royalty. So now, I feel apathetic about an approaching royal wedding. So what? What's gonna change in the greater scheme of things?

Bitter.