The coronation of Charles III and the Kentucky Derby took place the same day, a few hours and several thousand miles apart in distance and time, but in some ways very similar in spirit. They were accompanied by another outrage of violence in the US, a few hours after the coronation and almost simultaneous with the Derby, so much so that in some cases the TV coverage of the two seemed to get in each other’s way. It was as if fate was giving us another look, a chance to say, “Hey, folks.’ look what’s happening.” Or perhaps it was not fate speaking but time itself, that enigmatic creature which has dominated man’s consciousness for so many centuries without really yielding her secrets.

The coronation was an act of law but also an act of faith. It showed faith that something of the past survived and would survive, especially within the UK and the English-speaking world. It showed faith that the monarchy itself would survive, a fact that has been debated in the past but seems, at least temporarily to be mildly quiescent. It showed, beyond any reasonable or perhaps even unreasonable doubt, that a great many of the British people still honor the monarchy and love having it–the pageantry, yes of course, it wouldn’t be the same without it. But also, the feeling (partly inspired by the pageantry)that things were “going on,” that the past had bequeathed to people today a lot of things, some good and some not, but certainly including a treasure trove of memory, controversy, and heartbreak related to the royal family and their people and the relationship between them.

There was the King himself, still seeming like a new king, though actually enthroned as a practical matter for about 8 months. He looked somewhat haggard but also bore himself with steely determination, and on the few occasions when he was required to speak the voice was firm and clear.

Camilla, attaining the long-desired title of “Queen” looked exhausted by the wait but grateful for her final victory, and willing to share it with generosity. And then there was the rest of the family, the millions of watchers, and the reminders of the past. The ceremony, some of which is traceable to William the Conqueror in the 11th century is still impressive and has the power of a good ceremony to invoke in people a feeling of connection to the past, even if they do not understand exactly what it is. But national pride descends not only through the mind but through the genes and the subconscious, and the latter two were well served on Saturday, along with, fortunately, the first.

This was because, for all the compromises and changes and the concessions to times changing, there is enough of the past left in the service to evoke conscious memories and subconscious longings. And these , some intellectual, some emotional, many linguistic, and some a kind of identification with myth(however you use the term)combined admirably. Together they evoked the feelings of empathy, brother/sisterhood, and identification with place and past that make for a grateful people–largely grateful whatever their current problems, and even somewhat grateful for the history that has led them to where they are, even in Brexit’s economic doldrums.

So it was a success, on the whole, a satisfactory formalization of what had actually happened last year when the crown passed from the unforgettable Elizabeth II to her loyal and well-learned son who has spent youth, middle age and the beginning of old age training for being King. Now he is King, and the boy’s dreams and ambitions, the young man’s hopes and pain, and the old man’s wisdom have coalesced about him in what we hope will be a successful fulfillment of the duty and opportunity that he has anticipated and perhaps dreaded for so long.

Something over 3000 miles to the Southwest of London, there occurred another ceremony that linked the past and present. At Churchill Downs, Lexington KY, there was the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby. Unlike the coronation this is a regular event, taking place as it does the first Saturday of every May and highlighting the spring racing season in the US. This has been going on for nearly a century and a half now, the first one being in 1875 when Reconstruction still ruled in parts of the South and the US was pushing its way through a bad depression and working itself into the most(even more than 2020)controversial and disputed presidential election in history.

The Derby has dominated American racing for a century and a half and has become one of those touchstones of American identity and pride. It has been there through bad times and good, through Republicans and Democrats, through wars, bad economic times, and scandals. And it has withstood them all and remained something that attracts the attention and sometimes the awe of nearly everyone, even the youngest and hippest. I’m sure Artificial Intelligence knows about it though we still wait comment from that source.

The Derby has run every year WITHOUT EXCEPTION from the first one to the one last Saturday, and often in difficult times. The only times the date has varied from the first Saturday of May were 1945, when World War II got in the way and 2020 when covid did. In each case it was postponed, but in both years it was run, if not on time(Historian’s question-why did they run it as usual in 1942 with the Japanese advancing in the Pacific and the Germans in the USSR, then put it off in 1945 when the Germans were just about down and out and the Japanese were clearly on the ropes–or maybe, here, I should say, a dozen lengths behind with a few seconds to go? I’ve been unable to figure this one out, or to get a good description of what the 1942 run for the roses must have been like with the country in some real danger) Although crossing the finish line is always the most exciting part, the most iconic is the parade of the horses before the race, while the sounds, instrumental and vocal, of “My Old Kentucky Home” are heard in the background, the sounds of the old days impinging on the present and almost begging us to listen to them, and not to forget them, to hold onto our past. It is difficult to think that any American from any part of the country, does not feel a thrill from that splendid display of color, music and history.

The Derby has often been the source of drama and delight-Arts & Letters pushing Majestic Prince to his win in the Derby, 1969, Secretariat setting a time record in 1973 which has stood for half a century, Always Dreaming adding, just by his name, a poetic and almost spiritual sound to the glory of his win in 2017(or maybe he was just still dreaming that Hillary had won the previous November-who knows?”)

But the glory and joy of it all seem to touch everyone there, even the owners and horses who lost and the jockeys who rode all but one of the latter to disappointment. When it’s all over some of the joy seems to settle over everyone, even the TV viewers miles away, and while there may be many reasons for this, one of them is that we know we have seen a repeat of the American past that has been there for 150 years and shows no signs of fading, come Putin, Trump, or whatever. That sense of continuity has always been comforting to us as the Royal Family has to the Brits. But this year?

I have already mentioned, above, this year’s difference. Before the horses were off and running in Kentucky, there was new violence in Allen, TX. Government statistics tell us this was the 199th outbreak of mass shootings in the US this year. CNN tried to keep up on both the Derby and the Texas trouble. NBC, who covered the Derby, stuck pretty much to its already planned schedule, and there is no shame in that since they had an opportunity no other network did. While the shooting seems to have been around 3:30 PM CDT or about 2 1/2 half hours before the Derby started, there was no immediate TV coverage that I am aware of–there is almost always some lag between the event and the beginning of its TV coverage and this depends on several variables. But by the time the horses ran, most Americans watching any kind of Network and/or streaming TV likely had some notice that something new was wrong.

And as a result millions no doubt enjoyed watching the Derby, but with a part of their minds reminding them that there was a new outbreak of an old and terrible American problem, and they went on to watch Mage rack up his win with a small but profound nagging at their consciousness saying something like,”Go ahead and celebrate, it’s your right–but there’s trouble out there and while celebration may ease your secondary pain about it, it will not get rid of it.

So NBC went ahead with its post-race interviews with jockeys and owners, etc and the race was duly described by the professionals whose job includes covering and explaining the Derby, one of American sports’ principal yearly events. I watched some of this part myself, but with me as with millions of others there was that nagging knowledge that soon NBC News too would be covering another terrible day with respect to violence and another spasm of “thoughts and prayers” requests and promises and a (now increasing) group of people saying that isn’t enough and more needs to be done.

The most persuasive and perhaps most honorable expression of this opinion came from Steven Spainhouer. Spainhouer is a middle aged guy, former military and law enforcement and a believer in the rights of the Second Amendment. “I love my guns,” he said. But he went on to talk about his experience of arriving at the mall shortly after the shooting where he was supposed to meet his son, an employee there, for lunch.

He stumbled across several bodies including a girl–well, I’ll not go further into it. Check it out, you’ll find the interview all over the internet. Read it or listen to it carefully and if you’re looking at the video, watch his face. And listen to his words. He loves his guns and the Second Amendment, but he quite specifically said “When you get hit with an automatic weapon fire at close range, there is no opportunity for survival … It wasn’t mental health that killed these people. It was an automatic rifle with bullets”. He also said, “I’m a gun lover. I have guns. …But these M-4s, AR-15s, they’ve got to gt off the streets, or this is going to keep happening.” You are a good man, Mr Spainhouer–wish there were more like you, wherever in the country.

I hope that many people heed his words. I hope that some of those who do are from high places such as Congress and the White House. I hope they do something.

It is depressing to see the beauty of a coronation, or a Kentucky Derby ruined. It is even worse to contemplate the decline of our civilization so that the main subjects on the internet are often Trump’s sex life and language and somewhat after that his egregious behavior. But this violence is the worst.

There were many things about the past, including the part that I remember, that needed to be changed. Thankfully, many of them have been and racially and sexually society today is largely much more fair and just than it once was (still less than perfect, incidentally). I am one older person quite willing to acknowledge many of the changes were necessary and some still are needed.

But the advances have been accompanied by losses along the way and lost in the change seem to have been admiration of beauty and solemnity, style and grace, and the appreciation of the good things of the past, without admiring its shortcomings. Even more alarmingly, in the US it appears that even the most basic kind of patience is at risk, giving those who are unbalanced and have access to war-style weapons the ability to wreak havoc on about anyone and anything, leaving us all vulnerable and less able to appreciate coronations and derbies and the like as we huddle in our own shells, literal or not, and cut ourselves off from each other.

“Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” Simon and Garfunkel asked more than half a century ago. In a time of turmoil(Vietnam war protests, civil rights marches, riots, pot, hippies, etc), two of the leaders of the turmoil-loving generation paused a moment, and thought of what they knew of years gone by and wondered if something had been lost. They were right to wonder. Something had and it’s likely not coming back, not most of it, anyway, except perhaps to serve as a misunderstood backdrop for the Proud Boys and other such groups.

Now we ask much the same question, though of whom, I have no idea. If you have an answer, please let us know. We’d be glad to listen.