I feel kinship with you here Chris. It is a relief to know that the spite that I harbour for all this mourning of the loss of Queen wasn’t mine alone. The ghost of Britain’s oppressive past still haunts those of us whose ancestors suffered the consequences of colonialism. How am I supposed to feel sorrow for something I dissociate so sev…
I feel kinship with you here Chris. It is a relief to know that the spite that I harbour for all this mourning of the loss of Queen wasn’t mine alone. The ghost of Britain’s oppressive past still haunts those of us whose ancestors suffered the consequences of colonialism. How am I supposed to feel sorrow for something I dissociate so severely? It angers me to see that I’m somehow supposed to feel shame for my lack of grief for Britain’s loss. Although I have nothing against the queen personally but that family represents something that I was raised to dislike. In India we struggled for 200 years before we earned our freedom from colonialism and at the cost of our country being divided into different religions. 3 million ancestors died in Bangladesh because the Crown instigated its officials to fill Hindus and muslims with contentions against each other - the policy of ‘divide and rule’. Am I just supposed to forget all that history and worship the deceased queen like she was the one last goddess who lived on Earth ? I wish I too could let go of this inherent anger but no one knows better than you how hard it is.
On another note, I love Mary Oliver and the tenderness and awareness of nature with which she wrote. Thank you for sharing this write up. I’m really moved to know that you too are helping people when you can.
I feel kinship with you here Chris. It is a relief to know that the spite that I harbour for all this mourning of the loss of Queen wasn’t mine alone. The ghost of Britain’s oppressive past still haunts those of us whose ancestors suffered the consequences of colonialism. How am I supposed to feel sorrow for something I dissociate so severely? It angers me to see that I’m somehow supposed to feel shame for my lack of grief for Britain’s loss. Although I have nothing against the queen personally but that family represents something that I was raised to dislike. In India we struggled for 200 years before we earned our freedom from colonialism and at the cost of our country being divided into different religions. 3 million ancestors died in Bangladesh because the Crown instigated its officials to fill Hindus and muslims with contentions against each other - the policy of ‘divide and rule’. Am I just supposed to forget all that history and worship the deceased queen like she was the one last goddess who lived on Earth ? I wish I too could let go of this inherent anger but no one knows better than you how hard it is.
On another note, I love Mary Oliver and the tenderness and awareness of nature with which she wrote. Thank you for sharing this write up. I’m really moved to know that you too are helping people when you can.
🙏🏽