Some many years ago I read where some of the people who went to Elvis Presley's Graceland actually genuflected upon entering. You will forgive me if I vomit. That said.

I really appreciate your stance. I come from mostly English/Irish blood, with a fine splat of Spanish-Portuguese mixed in. All horrible colonizers. To that I recently read a bio of Simon Bolivar, who came from "high- ranking" Spanish blood, but who bitterly opposed the highly-effective caste system which did such damage and continues to do such damage. In fact in his efforts to liberate South American countries from the grip of the monarchy he gave all he had away. He was still deeply flawed, but who isn't?

That is another article, but suffice it to say that Religion and Royalty, the sick twin sisters, absolutely pitch and prey on the idea of deification of the human, using color, status, money, any method available to manipulate people to their own causes for money, power, influence, sex, you name it.

British, French, Russian, German and all the royals interbred so much that the children were sick with the lack of diversity in the bloodlines. Such so called "pure blood" couldn't clot. What clods, sorry for the pun. But that is how determined people were to uphold this idiot belief that station in life determines our value and that rank in a caste system conveys superiority.

PAH.

This is a terribly complex topic. I have read both pro and con. I have read the vitriol and read the hopeful articles about the continuation of the line. With the latter, I categorically disagree.

But to do this, we would have to demand that all such systems be dismantled from Monaco to the European states still in thrall to it all.

What perturbs me more, though, David, is that America began its life in denial of a monarchy, and has slipped right back into it. Now we have the uber uber UBER rich, so seriously deranged and desperate to prove their superiority that I am quite surprised that nobility isn't back on the market just like it used to be not that long ago. Look it up.

We haven't progressed a damn bit.

I liked Aragorn better when he was Strider. Even for the best of us, once in possession of the Kohinoor or the like, it is awfully hard to give it back to its rightful owners. In fact, if you will please forgive an additional Hobbit reference, the sickness of the dragon's gold and the king's jewel were fine analogies for what we see today across all spheres. We're just not paying attention, David. And those who don't are absolutely, positive doomed to repeat and perpetuate our stupidity.

Rightly or wrongly, I believe each of us embodies something of the Sacred. My what a world it would be if we recognized and valued that in each other.

Thoughtful and careful, very typical of your writing, and I appreciated this very much.