Remembering Diana…
July 6, 2007 | 2:46 amNearly 10 years ago, Princess Diana passed away. I was in London then, and I remember it like it was yesterday. I’ve gotten a little teary-eyes in the past couple of days, remembering the feeling of living in a nation of mourning (hyped by sensationalist journalism, I give you that), and as I mentioned this to a friend of mine (yes, I have friends), he replied “who give’s a crap?”
Aaah, and to think I just wrote a post called “Seeing it through their eyes“… hehehe… I realize that, 10 years ago, I had been living in a bubble of national mourning, but apparently, the rest of the world didn’t stop and cry with us… And who can blame them? Diana was many things to many people, and, in retrospect, she is often remembered as someone who cleverly used the media to her own advantage, to highlight the victim and do-gooder (is that a word?) she was.
Unless you took a specific interest in following what she did, you would probably be completely unaware of the HUGE number of charities she endorsed and got personally involved with. Yes, she was the first to shake hands with AIDS patients, she touched a leper, and she walk through minefields. But there was the smaller, less sensational charities and causes she was involved in. She was a good mother, a caring emotional individual with a strong will and she was true to her word. Did she get wiser over the years and learn that the media could be her ally? Sure, and good for her!
So I guess what I’m saying is that, as someone who lived in London for over 22 years, I will miss her because she was part of the culture and the life in England. But if you couldn’t give a hoot, then that’s your perspective. I’m hearing Dr. Phil: “there is no reality, just perception”, but it’s true.
The same weekend Diana passed away, so did Mother Teresa. I wonder how many people remember that. It feels like no one does, because, in England, we were so focused on Diana. But maybe I’m wrong, maybe, for the rest of the world, that weekend 10 years ago, the biggest news was Mother Teresa’s passing, and not Diana’s…
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My fahter died the same year, and I fall in
Sonja | July 6, 2007 | 10:03 pmMy fahter died the same year, and I fall in the I don’t care part of this debate. Mother Teresa did all that and never had the money, ease of status etc. I have far more respect for her then for Diana. And I was living in London at the time. I just could not understand it then - I don’t understand it now.
yep, fair enough. i think the fundamental difference between diana and
CosmoChick | July 6, 2007 | 10:20 pmyep, fair enough.
i think the fundamental difference between diana and mother teresa is that MT did it out of the goodness of her heart, it was her calling. Diana, well, it would have kinda looked bad if she hadn’t been a humanitarian, right? i mean, being a princess in a democracy, the only role you CAN have is a humanitarian one…
I didn’t admire her. But i respected her and how she handled herself. Her death was sad because she left 2 young boys behind, but definitely, this was all media hype. Her role in the media was hyped, and therefore the mourning was going to be on a national level too…
i remember my colleagues and i going to put flowers down in front of buckingham palace… i had lived in London my whole life, i lived through the romance of charles and diana, the wedding (i was 6!!), the births, the sadness, the good, the bad, the charities, the romances, the media hype, she was in my daily “pop culture” everyday, so naturally, when she passed, it affected me. The media had made her someone i felt i knew, so naturally, her passing was just as personal. And then, let’s not forget, t’s easy to get caught up in “mass-mourning”, the sadness of others fuelling your own… I know i’m very easily influenced that way…
sorry about your father passing away. obviously, anything else would pale in comparison to a personal tragedy like that to you (waow! that was good english!)