Dear Queen Elizabeth;
Being an American, I am not sure how to address this letter. But what I have to say needs to be said immediately, without taking the time to research the proper forms of address between a citizen of one country to the ruling monarch of another. I hope that you will forgive any breech of etiquette.
I read just moments ago of the damage done to the gardens at Buckingham Palace by the Marine helicopters and security forces of President George W. Bush. I am deeply embarassed at what my country's presidential entourage did.
Please understand that this is the culmination of a deepening sense of shame at George Bush's international behavior. I am ashamed that he was the source of much disruption recently in the Australian government, and that he continues to prove himself the stereotypical rude American tourist pains me greatly.
Madam, what truly hurts is that his visit to London caused such damage to your gardens. As a gardener myself, it pains me when beloved plants die from disease, but to have them damaged by rude and inconsiderate neighbors infuriates me.
I apologize. Not only for the loss of plants and trees, but for the lost lives in Afghanistan and Iraq, the British blood on foreign soil for wars that were based on lies.
I'm sorry, your majesty.
I wish I could stop him, I wish I could stop this insanity. I wish that George W. Bush would drop this stupid vendetta against a man who supposedly wanted to kill his daddy. I wish he would realize that the official spin on the state of the war isn't helping, that he's losing a guerilla war in Iraq, and needs to seriously re-evaluate our presence in that beleaguered land.
I wish America would wake up from its delusional dreams of flag-waving righteousness and see how we have become the dragon demanding obeisance.
I wish I could send you a seedling from one of the few remaining American Chestnuts (Castanea Dentata) that grows down the street from where I live to replace the lost plants. But I cannot because it has no source of pollination, and so only throws shriveled husks instead of viable nuts. That, and it also carries chestnut blight, and probably would bring the disease to your shores. There's a reason for import and custom laws.
Instead, I offer this image as token of apology; It's of a rose that I grew two years ago, by shear dumb luck. I think you may recognize the variety; "Peace." Please accept it with my best wishes.
Sincerely...
E. Howe.
