Very touched by this article from The New York Times

[Return2thebasic]

Prince Harry and the Value of Silence
By Patti Davis
www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/opinion/prince-harry-and-the-value-of-silence.html

Apparently, this author has also written an autobiography about his family. This article is what he felt wanting to say to Harry.

"My justification in writing a book I now wish I hadn’t written (and please, don’t go buy it; I’ve written many other books since) was very similar to what I understand to be Harry’s reasoning. I wanted to tell the truth, I wanted to set the record straight. Naïvely, I thought if I put my own feelings and my own truth out there for the world to read, my family might also come to understand me better."

"And in the ensuing years, I’ve learned something about truth: It’s way more complicated than it seems when we’re young. There isn’t just one truth, our truth — the other people who inhabit our story have their truths as well."

Prince William has, I’m sure, his own take on the physical fight that Harry has described. To really understand the dynamic between the brothers, to broaden the story and make it more complete, William’s truth has to be considered as well. Harry has written that, after William hit him, William told Harry to hit him back, which he declined to do. But by writing about the fight, he’s done exactly that.

" I’d have said, ‘Be quiet.’” Not forever. But until I could stand back and look at things through a wider lens. Until I understood that words have consequences, and they last a really long time."

"Silence gives you room, it gives you distance, and it lets you look at your experiences more completely, without the temptation to even the score."

This is Ronald Reagan's daughter.

Gosh, didn't know that. Now I'm going to search up the book...😂

Those are very wise words, aren't they?
I remember her book, and the chat shows she went on.
She's being very honest about it, other people ought not to be collateral damage in these exercises.

My mum used to say 'Much which may be thought cannot wisely be said'. Also, you can't call your words back - and it's even more destructive when you've been rash enough to put them in print.

He's many times a fool for what he's done, and I think that (especially if his relationship with Meghan goes down the pan) he'll have many years to reflect on his stupidity and regret it.

I'm also surprised how few people on MN criticize him for selling his soul (and his family) for shekels - it's the lowest thing anyone can do.

I cannot get my head round those who defend him.

Yes, the thing is it wasn’t simply a matter of unburdening himself. His motivation was to a huge extent money. Look at the Archewell site congratulating him - the whole saga with his family should be sad for Harry, not a reason for fist-pumping and grinning.

It’s a great shame someone that wise wasn’t around to advise Harry before he spilt his guts. I think this book will come to be one of his greatest regrets.

I'm also surprised how few people on MN criticize him for selling his soul (and his family) for shekels - it's the lowest thing anyone can do

What do you mean "shekels?"

Shekels? Interesting choice of words there

Please don’t derail an interesting thread by trying to start a bunfight over a commonly used term to denote money.

Very wise words indeed.

Sadly I think Harry is very much going to regret this.

Please don’t derail an interesting thread by trying to start a bunfight over a commonly used term to denote money grabbing

Fixed that sentence for you.

A shekel is an ancient unit of currency, not a money-grabber. The sentence didn't need fixing.

@DizzyRascal

Thank you, Wanda and Blossom - as far as I know, it's a commonly-used term for money - from the Bible, surely?

Just as we might say 'more bang for your buck' or 'another day another dollar' (from US slang?)

But yes, surely not the point here, so sorry to have caused a tedious and unnecessary distraction!

I fully expect Harry to turn this around in the future and write something about how he regrets writing this book, what a victim he was being encouraged to do it and his poor kids etc. having to read about it. People who want to follow the narrative and buy into it, will keep following it. And Harry and Meghan will be worth USD500-1000 - that is my prediction. Whether she will stay with him is another matter.
They are all going to be absolutely fine, and so is the Royal Family. Who will keep silent. However, those who approve of the Royal Family will be even more on their side after this saga. Nothing is going to change. Except some gullible people will have spent their USD on Harry and Meghan, and will have been entertained in the process - so perhaps money well spent from the daily grind of life.
No publicity is bad publicity right?
The irony being that Ronald Reagan’s daughter is doing just that. Writing about her own words of the past. Which Harry will do in time.

That was meant to say net worth will go to 1 billion for this couple.

I believe the saying is rooted in the bible story where Judas sold out his friend Jesus for 30 shekels.

It was actually appropriate terminology imo as Harry is selling out his family for cash. Maybe you just didn't like the phrase, rather than not understanding its meaning.

I think it's normally rendered as thirty pieces of silver - never heard it as thirty shekels before.

The phrase has anti-Semitic connotations though my dude, which well you knew.

Quite.
Everyone who knows the Bible story, knows it as 30 pieces of silver.

Yup. Thirty pieces of silver. Not that it’s relevant, it was used by the OP as unit of money.

The word used in Matthew 26:15 (ἀργύρια, argyria) simply means "silver coins",[10] and scholars disagree on the type of coins that would have been used. Donald Wiseman suggests two possibilities. They could have been tetradrachms of Tyre, usually referred to as Tyrian shekels (14 grams of 94% silver), or staters from Antioch (15 grams of 75% silver), which bore the head of Augustus.[11] Alternatively, they could have been Ptolemaic tetradrachms.

(WIKI, sorry!)

I think it'd be a shame if this discussion were to veer too much.

I actually really like what she says about silence giving you space...I'm going to employ that (as I can often be intense/impestuous/say too much too quickly!).

I can’t read the article as it wants my money. I’ve already given my money to PH 😂

Particularly when I was young and (rightly) very angry about some things, I may well have been tempted to go nuclear, I think. I can understand why he felt compelled, given the circumstances. I don't think it's just about the money, I think there are deep psychological things at play too. But I do think it was stupid, will be more damaging to him than he might have conceived of, and ultimately I do think he will regret it.

Now, at my age, I've learnt that often things just aren't so one-sided, there are nuances to everything. And where I demand respect/validation/support/compromise from others/etc, I really can't demand those things unless I am willing or able to reciprocate. Ironically I'm not that much older than him, but I do think he has some arrested development (understandably, tb).

I don't think extended therapy is good for everyone, tbh. Some people find purpose in doing. I think Harry is one of them.

(Some types of extended therapy, to be clear)