I really didn’t mean to watch the Royal Wedding; too much hype, too trivial in light of far weightier world events, and who wants to get up that early if they don’t have to? But my tooth had other ideas. It woke me up, insisting that I stop putting off the root canal that I should have gotten a month ago. So there I was in front of the TV at 5:00 a.m., tired, cranky and waiting for the Advil to kick in. And, surprise-surprise, I actually enjoyed the “Wedding”.

Now honestly, I’m as cynical about this marriage as Cal Thomas is. Considering that William and Kate are both children of divorce, and have been shacking up for while, along with the added pressure of leading such public lives, I figure their union has about a 10% chance of surviving 10 years. But it was nice to pretend otherwise for a while. And in the middle of all the impressive ceremony, pomp and pageantry the pair seemed genuinely happy.

More importantly, the million or so people crowding the streets of London seemed genuinely happy – here was something to celebrate. Even though Britain’s royalty are rulers in name only, their “subjects” are still drawn to the centuries-old traditions of the monarchy. Here was something much larger than their own lives that they wanted to be a part of, to share with their fellow countrymen, to pay their respects and yes – to celebrate.

It seems that they, and we, still want to believe in the fairytale wedding, the hope of a happily-ever-after and even, maybe, the long-standing traditions of western civilization. The “Royal Wedding” shone a momentary bright light in what seems to be an ever-darkening world.

(Rather like the Advil stopped my tooth from aching for a while :))