A Royal Turning Point

My Favorite Pic from the Wedding - Just Look at that Kid!

I honestly had no intention of watching The Royal Wedding. For sure, I watched when William and Kate got married, and I will admit that I was glued to the television when Princess Diana got married back in the day. And I sadly watched her funeral after she got into her fatal car accident. That was a tough one, as a dad.

But I haven't really been following Harry and Meghan...to be honest I didn't even know her ethnic background or her work on social issues. I just hadn't tuned into this couple quite yet. I knew The Royal Wedding was happening but just didn't think that I would care.

On Saturday morning, on an incredible gray and rainy day in New York City, I accidentally clicked onto The Royal Wedding coverage on E! E! is one of my go-to's on a rainy day when I'm feeling lazy!

I got hooked in a New York Minute and I got hooked into a surprise that I wasn't expecting.

Despite my naivete about the Royal Couple, I am a big follower of pop culture. And I am a big believer in pop culture turning points...moments in our collective society that change who we are and how we think about things, collectively.

The Royal Wedding is a pop culture turning point for us.

Meghan and Harry broke so many conventional traditions purposefully and respectfully...changing how we think about who we are. Like a bride-to-be walking down the aisle by herself. Like a father welcoming what could be considered an "outsider" into the family. Like musical arrangements that make a social statement and modernize our ceremonies.

Meghan and Harry also established new traditions purposefully and respectfully...changing how we think about who we are. Like not just talking about diversity, but living it and being a change agent for it.

I was also blown away by the sermon. I'm not a religious person, but I am spiritual in how I think about our lives. This man's talk about love summed it all up for me. The power of love in changing our society. Not in a religious way, but in a cultural way.

In a way that we need right now.

The Royal Wedding was a moment that we'll reflect on as a shift in our way of life. A visual shift. A permanent shift. An inspirational shift. The Royal Wedding was a moment of hope and inclusiveness and individuality that I personally haven't seen in quite some time. I am moved by it.

I'm inspired...I feel a bit different about how our world will take shape after this converging of forces.

Here's a recap video from The New York Times:

What are your thoughts? What's your experience? JIM

PS ... here's a little lift (or should I say "gift") from Bishop Michael Curry's sermon that I not only relate to as a husband, father, and member of society, but I also embrace for anyone in our world because the power of love will change our world...

The late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, and I quote: “We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world. Love is the only way.” 

There’s power in love. Do not underestimate it. Don’t even over-sentimentalize it. There’s power, power in love. 

If you don’t believe me, think about a time when you first fell in love. The whole world seemed to center around you and your beloved. There’s power, power in love, not just in its romantic forms, but any form, any shape of love. There’s a certain sense in which when you are loved and you know it, when someone cares for you and you know it, when you love and you show it. 

It actually feels right. There’s something right about it. There’s a reason for it.