I was raised Irish Catholic. So we were supposed to have 'special respect' for priests and nuns. I never did. They never inspired awe in me, or reverence. They were just people, like other people. Neither of my parents were big on respecting authority when I was a kid.
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However, we didn't call elders by their first names...unless we were STRONGLY invited to do so. One of my younger aunts told me I could just use her first name if I wanted. My mom was like 'Oh hell noes' That type of respect was mandatory and always made sense to me.
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I was also exposed to a wide variety of people when we moved to CA. One of my neighbors was a woman in her 20s in a wheelchair who adored me and we were 'friends' ~ knowing her, being able to ask all the nosy questions you ask your friends...resulted in me not being uncomfortable
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or awkward around various 'differences' and learning early and young about curiosity boundaries. AND YET, despite me being always too nosy in life, people have always been kind about it because I've found when you are genuine and interested in the people...they get that.
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versus treating someone like a novelty or something, ew gross. A N Y H O O on my dad's side we can trace our family tree back to the 1400s. There's royalty in there. (There is in yours too, we're all bastards of kings and pirates)
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So again, no big whoop. And my mom is IRISH. Her side fled during the FAMINE. I mean. Srs bidness culturally. Then my mom starts traveling in retirement with my Dad to England. And one day she sees the Queen.
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Oh to back up, she had seen the Pope multiple times the same way (at a distance). She's met famous people, she's not (wasn't) a starfucker. I THINK she met the Pope once, but I'm not sure. I know one of her close friends has a brother who's a Cardinal so she prolly did.
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So her reaction to the Queen was goddamned astonishing to me.
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Like seeing the Pope was cool. In a 'eee it was the Pope!' way. Like my family is the type who got tickets to the Mass in Philly when the Pope was there, and pulled in favors for it. LOL But being Irish her reaction to the Queen should've been at best a 'meh'. But noooooooo
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My mom was a Beatles fan. My grandfather got her front row tix to a concert by working security there. And she told that story a lot. But THE QUEEN....it was something different. Like, almost magical religious to her.
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Which, was a trip. I think it was at the park with the swans, the one where all the spies used to meet? They were up a walkway from where she processed by. They have pics of it. My mom was just blown away. She put a Queen Liz magnet on her fridge.
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Now I don't know about your fam? But in mine the fridge is the Place of Honor. Like fucking baby pics are up on the fridge. I got my mom a 'Best Mom' magnet with a massive bouquet and was overjoyed when it sat on that fridge for years. It's prime limited real estate.
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Now my mom was 100% Irish. And very, deeply, strongly proud of her heritage. And while I'm not trying to play oppression olympics with ANYONE (and being Irish in the West is a bazillion times easier than many things)...it was also an identity she suffered for.
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in like, she had experienced bigotry and an one occasion I know of, physical violence. So yeah. Oh and also there was a huge segment of my dad's fam we don't talk to, because they called me a mutt. :D THAT IS ANOTHER STORY FOR ANOTHER DAY
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Anyhoo, between the fact that our fam was in the US because of the Famine, and her strong Irish Catholic identity...it was surreal how star struck she was by the Queen. And I brought this up with her. And she got super pissy about it, as though she recognized the cognitive
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dissonance but didn't want to talk about THAT because she had strong feels. Again. So weird.
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And not because of say anything Liz has done. I mean, I admire some of the things she's done. I admire the fact that she's maintained as much power as she has in modernity, that she was smart enough to set up a PR structure and opinion polls, etc. But the very concept of Royal
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is just silly. :) And so I'm always really struck by how many are really struck by it. As though there is a 'specialness' to it beyond the simple fact that it's just a 'specialness' by your agreement.pic.twitter.com/ti9FvH9gVa
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