Monday, May 2, 2011

Royal Wedding

© Fanni Williams
Maybe it's just the people I follow on Twitter, but I noticed quite a bit of backlash to last week's coverage of the royal wedding in England. Over and over last week, I saw or heard comments like this one: "Wait...there's a wedding tomorrow? Oh sorry, I was distracted by things that actually matter." While I was not personally interested in the wedding, I found it interesting how quickly others dismissed the attention it gained as utterly ridiculous. Because the event did not matter to some, many people decided that it should not matter to all. Yet of those espousing this disgust, many are likely devote entire days to the Super Bowl or entire weekends to the NCAA Basketball tournament (events which I myself enjoy). It could just as easily be said by those with no interest that these sporting events are silly nonsense and do not actually matter in the grand scheme of things; it could be said that those who enjoy them would be better served by directing their focus elsewhere. It made me stop and think. How often do I believe that what matters to me should matter to everyone (or that what doesn't matter to me should matter to no one)? This belief, in my opinion, is the essence of selfishness. Though I can often fall into this trap, it's my hope that I can live out a different belief more consistently: "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves."

- Joel

(By the way, there are some great Royal Wedding photographs here.)

2 comments:

Cassie said...

Interesting point you have. I totally agree.

derek ellens said...

well said. kudos.