Queen’s Kindness In Travel Perspective

“Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves — from our recklessness or our greed.” (Queen Elizabeth II)

I am deeply saddened by the sudden death of Queen Elizabeth II last week, marking the end of her seventy year realm as the most recent monarch leader of the United Kingdom. Know that as with most tragic deaths of “larger than life heroes” that have happened during my lifetime, the queen’s death marks for me again an occasion of deep personal reflection. So I’ve often read that public opinions of the long lived British royal system is often framed with lies, gossip and scandal. Yet might I best counteract such negativism about the “Crown” in recent years by understanding how Elizabeth’s quietly benevolent presence for so long provided a stable beacon of hope to spread kind goodwill toward all she met amid so many world crises. So in fact, she’d made time during her reign to engage in friendly, face to face conversation with thirteen out of the last fourteen sitting U.S. presidents. Maintaining her dutiful commitment to promote such peace and shared value understanding with America during troublesome political times, Queen Elizabeth graciously hosted President Biden in the last year for informal tea chats as well. 

Thus in the spirit of spreading nice news today, you might observe that I’ve become inspired in the following travel photo set, taken on our adventures around the world, to feel a heavy dose of kindness myself. I notice then how these images of unselfish giving rather than self centered taking set a positive tone for how to engage with friends, family, strangers and “Mother Nature” in my life again. So as I hopefully exit from COVID’s long isolation period from others, I’m more conscious now of the need to flash a warm smile or say a hearty hello in greeting others as Elizabeth often did when spreading her iconic legacy of hospitable kindness.