THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY : An Embarrassed Continent
Thursday, September 22, 2022
Anyone who peruses Facebook, and probably other social media sites, has seen time and again that kids today are so disrespectful. If you have gray hair, you will probably agree - that is, until this week.
All three major North American countries managed to embarrass their countries, their citizens, and sadly, themselves. Let's start in the south.The Mexican president did not attend but sent his Secretary of Foreign Affairs. That's okay, the president has a lot on his hands these days, directing 200,000 illegal immigrants into the United States in August alone. However, the Secretary treated the funeral like a birthday party (to quote one of his citizens on Twitter.) He was taking and posting selfies throughout the day, including one of him and his wife "dressed in their funeral clothes." Mexican citizens were not happy.It's time to move north. Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, arrived early as did most officials. No other official, as far as anyone knows, went out on the town, wearing a tee-shirt, with his "buds," stopping in a pub for a drink or two. One of his buds is a musician so he played (well) and Trudeau sang (poorly) the Queen's favorite song - Bohemian Rhapsody. It was offensive to the British.World leaders were requested by the English government to only have two people (the leader and spouse) come to the funeral. At that, there were more than 2,000 people participate in the ceremony. They were told not to bring their own limos or helicopters. The British government supplied secure buses to take the leaders from the airport to Westminster Abbey. Buses? World leaders? Yes, all but one.Justin Trudeau had to flex his muscles and show who was boss. He brought not only his wife but each provincial governor and spouse, an actress, an Olympian athlete, several Royal Candian Mounted Police officers and friends, and any other friends Trudeau chose to bring. The funeral co-ordinators allowed only two seats per country so not all these people got to the funeral, but they got a free trip to London.And now we come to America's participants. Justin Trudeau brought an actress and an Olympian - President Joe Biden brought 400 Secret Service agents. That number of agents would need a plane, or two, of their own. President Biden got special permission to bring "The Beast" which is his bullet-proof limo. There were reports that Marine One (the presidential helicopter) was also brought but it was not seen on camera.And here comes the best, or worst, part. I worked in Europe years ago. When a start time is set for 8:00, they mean 8:00. "The Beast" was reported driving slowly around Westminster, going to a sandwich shop in central London, and then arriving LATE for the funeral. It appeared that our President and First Lady thought everything would wait for them. No, it doesn't happen that way in Europe. When they arrived, they got out of The Beast and started into the church. Imagine, if you can, our President being stopped and told to wait until the military escorts had entered. Long story short, by the time the Bidens got into the Abbey their seats had been given away (yes, the Europeans do that) and the Bidens were in row 14. Nowhere near the front as they had expected.Obviously, the ego problems aren't limited to the United States as people once believed, they have now spread over the whole continent. Maybe our young people's disrespect is only a result of what they see.