Reading Peggy Noonan today about the ascension of Pope Leo XIV, she quotes Benedict XVI about the fact that a Pope is around for but a speck of time in the context of the church. Which evokes Carl Sagan and his proverbial "billions and billions" of stars or John McPhee's n books about geologists and the time scales over which they must think.
But first it made me think about "The Crown," of which I still have maybe three or four episodes in season 6 to watch. At its best the show has always been about the tension between the sovereign's desires as a human and her/his duty to the institution of the monarchy and also the polity it serves. Which seems at one level like a fairly rare and bespoke thing, hence the occasional allusions to the sovereign's Christ-life suffering.
But it's not really that rare at all. We're all living it in our own ongoing tension between public and private interests. Do we buy the new car or give money to charity? Take the higher-paying job or work in the public sector? Or (per Effective Altruism) max out earning so as to give more away? Watch the game or go volunteer at the homeless shelter? Encourage our kids to make money or do good? It's endless. All day every day. And then we go to bed.
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