Stories and News No. 1286
The Queen is gone.
No controversy, really.
After 96 years of life and 70 plus 214 days of reign, Elizabeth II died.
No comparison, I assure you.
For two weeks at least, but probably the fact will still occupy part of the media in the coming days, the news of the death of the elderly woman seated at the head of the British monarchy has got primal attention in much of the Western world.
Until the climax, that is the sumptuous funeral with the many heads of state and television coverage from all over the planet.
The Queen lived, the Queen reigned, the Queen will be forever in history.
Nonetheless, as is tradition on these pages of mine, it is the stories with the initial neglected that take precedence.
Without any controversy or confrontation, I repeat, I cannot help but ignore the more or less authoritative celebrations up there and concentrate my awareness, as well as my gaze, for example on the Horn of Africa, the area where my dad came from, where 15 million children are out of school, and now 3.6 million are expected to drop out due to drought.
According to the various testimonies of the teachers, particularly the girls are facing this risk and, for them, losing their education means giving up their rights, to transform themselves very early into wives, mothers or simply to take care of everything and everyone, except themselves.
Well, they are my Queens.
Those who can also be literally such, in the future, and no one should stop her right to become so. Not even the drought, let alone the greed, selfishness and indifference of those who, with their infamous new or post colonial exploitation policies, have contributed in an essential way to their misfortunes.
The Queens of their own destiny, unjustly severed.
The Queens of their mothers, lacking sovereigns of their own lives, but with the vain desire to write a different plot for the fruit of their womb.
The Queens without any crown on their heads and even less a shred of throne from which to contemplate the world, but on the contrary deserving all our admiration for the courage with which they face every second of their existence.
The Queens without Court and without subjects, but who should also be listened to when and if they have something to say, ask, demand. It will be a duty to lend them ear, a right sanctioned by the blood shed by those who brought them into the world by making huge sacrifices.
The Queens you cannot afford to shake hands with, but not for the reason you may think, because what they deserve is only a long and huge hug, or any gesture capable of returning them all the affection and tenderness they did not receive.
The Queens who came into the world without fuss and honors of any kind, often with measured joy and sometimes with pain.
The Queens whose family members live on certain occasions scattered and divided, but not by common power quarrels. Tt is life that goes like this in those parts of the world. And rest assured that each of the protagonists would do anything to keep the spotlight of the world away from themselves, unless it's for a happy reason.
The Queens who will probably never reign anything, but even the least thing would be fine for them. Read as well as a normal life made up of ups and downs, perhaps finding yourself on the sofa to comment with more or less genuine regret about the disappearance of a much more fortunate colleague.
The Queens who may not live as long.
For this reason, with all my heart, I feel to conclude by exclaiming.
God save the Queens...