I am walking for miles,
in heels, from Victoria Station to St James's Park for Her Majesty, the Queen's
90th birthday Patron’s Lunch.
It is pouring with rain
and my good suede shoes are saturated and ruined and rubbing a blister into my
tender flesh. I have a nasty head cold and my right ear is blocked making me
partially deaf. I feel miserable, on the brink of tears.
How can such a
prestigious event be spoiled by something as natural as rain?
It got me thinking that
humans everywhere are simple really, when all pretensions are stripped away.
All we want is to stay
warm and dry when it's wet and cold and cool and shaded when it's scorching
hot; to be well and not sick; to have enough food when hungry and enough water
when thirsty; to be able to pee and poo in a proper toilet when we need to go;
to have comfortable shoes and clothes to protect our bodies and a shelter to
call home and feel safe.
Yes these are our basic
survival needs and when they are not met, nothing else seems to matter! Not
pomp and pageantry. Not even meeting the Queen!
With every painful,
soggy step I take, gripping my colourful umbrella against the deluge, I am
reminded of my life's mission to ensure that these basic needs are met in far-flung
communities where they are denied; where abject poverty and deprivation cheat
children and adults of the very basics of life, and they can't even imagine the luxuries of
education, culture and entertainment.
The event for 10,000 guests
representing over 600 charities was a spectacular success in the end. I ate my
gourmet sandwiches from my beautiful M & S picnic hamper, chatting with the
other Save the Children volunteers, honoured to be part of this historic event.
We had with a clear view of
magnificent Buckingham Palace and the golden Victoria Memorial, squashed in the
crowd of beaming, loyal royalists draped in plastic ponchos.
The sun broke through
and the joyful parade paid tribute to legions of volunteers who have devoted
decades to serving others, showing the best of humanitarian commitment to the
suffering of fellow human beings (and animals) denied basic survival needs.
And by the way, I got
to see the Queen! She was wearing hot pink, like me! Us humans are not really
that different. I bet our Lizzy enjoyed a cup of tea with her feet up, patting
her adored corgis, after the pomp and pageantry of her 90th birthday
celebrations. The Basics, that’s all we need.
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