For years I have intended to watch the two part HBO series Elizabeth I. I think I have even rented it an kept it until I had accrued late fees and then still not watched it. But now, I have Netflix, and their are no late fees and at last I have watched both parts. I just finished.
At the same time I am reading, “When Christ and His Saints Slept” by Sharon Kay Penman. This is about a much earlier time in England’s monarchy. By an odd coincidence it is about Maude who was lined up to be England’s first ruling Queen after her father’s death in 1135, but the crown was stolen by her cousin instead. Elizabeth I was the first ruling Queen of England a few hundred years later.
I am not a historian. I and I have my skepticism about the veracity of any sort of popularized story.
But for instance this movie about Elizabeth I feels authentic. And I think it feels authentic because it takes no sides. The Queen is both noble and pitiable. She passes up her own happiness for the sake of her country, but she also pines and writhes with emotion and blunders at her country’s loss.
It is never clear who truly loves her, who truly loves the country, who conspires against her, who works only for their own gain, or who works only for the good of the country. And I am left thinking that the good of the queen and the good of the country are often mutually exclusive.
In the movie her council and court are an unsteady mass of politics and manuveurs. Her lovers become her enemies, her jaded council becomes her most trusted. But in the end, no one is to be trusted and everyone is to be loved and the line between the Queen’s welfare and the people’s welfare is a blur. In fact it is hard to tell what was good and what was bad throughout the whole movie, because everything is so closely tied. Betrayals are turned into triumphs and triumphs into failures.
I was left feeling or wondering if we have come so far from this sort of intrigue. I could easily imagine a modern version of Queen Elizabeth I being played out with only the costumes, the names, and the back drop changed.
In our congress and administration good men and women are turned to or played for fools. Evil intent often leads to good of the nation. Even the worst of politicians cannot help but do some good. And the best invariably do bad.
As we are about to crown er.. I mean inaugurate a new President, I wonder what makes a good president. For every president there are champions and detractors and they have all done good and bad.
We can look at the circumstances of our country before and after. What is the rate of homelessness, divorce, death, birth, war, gross domestic product, debt, happiness, bankruptcies, and generally assess our standing before and after a presidency.
In the case of our current president these sorts of assessments look bad. We are at war, our economy is faltering, our global political leverage has fallen. But can President Bush be blamed for all of these? How much is beyond the control of the President? How much are we at the mercy of the external world.
I don’t seek to assess President Bush’s achievements, but only to point out how difficult it can be to truly objectively assess them.
And I wonder what to hope for with our President elect. I do have high hopes for him and us in the coming years.
I would have wished for Elizabeth I a collaborative team that wasn’t about seeking personal power over others, or revenge, or even simply affirmation, but a team that put aside their personal needs and thought of their country and worked for it’s advancement. Then they go home at the end of the day and get to be humans again. At home they can hate, and envy, and love, and whatever else their personalities demand of them. Her councilors were all so insecure about one thing or another–it might have been their livelihoods, their lives, their loved ones, their futures, their hearts, their self esteem–and in this movie it is was so often those insecurities that drove them. And they made so many mistakes, there were so many tragedies because of it. I wouldn’t wish that sort of authority or power on anyone.
And yet the book I am reading is about a king who is not ruthless enough, and who takes pity on others and because of it the country is falling apart.
As humans it sometimes seems that we cannot win, because we are our humanness is both what makes us and what breaks us.
So what do I wish for our future President?
I wish him both good and bad and I hope he has the right mix of hope and honesty but absolutely no innocence and I hope he know injustice just enough to be able to recognize it or even work it for us all. I hope that in working for all of us for the best or our country that he doesn’t have to forsake himself or those that he loves but I expect that he might have to sometimes. I hope he has good council and I hope he doesn’t always get his way–because so often we win by losing.
And I look forward to this presidency more than I have ever looked forward to anything.
On a lighter note, after much internal debate and agony on what to do with my bird feeder. I decided to hang it up with seed in it. Now it is officially a squirrel feeder. Maybe I have won by losing, because even though I don’t have birds to watch the dogs are getting their exercise and entertainment by monitoring the squirrel and I get my exercise by constantly getting up and letting them out. And maybe I will come to enjoy watching the squirrel or squirrels as I am sure it will soon be.
Signing off,
Maggie
