This afternoon, we learned with a sad heart of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. What we always knew would come somehow actually came to many of us as a surprise and, despite the over-prepared protocol, we collectively felt the weight of that loss.
Many words were issued to commemorate The Queen.Words such as service, duty, devotion, dedication, giving,and dignity. I want to suggest one other word: holiness.
Many of us have not known another monarch. Indeed, most people today were not alive before 1952 when she ascended the throne. Throughout our lives, she represented a constant; as the French president said, she was “TheQueen.” In a fast-changing world, she was a landmark.
She was there on April 5th, 2020, in an exceptional broadcast and during the most unprecedented event of our lives. In a televised speech, her calm gave us the strength we needed to get through a global health crisis. On October 13th, 1940, Princess Elizabeth, as she then was, made her very first broadcast. She addressed children all over the UK temporarily displaced to escape the war.
The common thread throughout her life was selflessness. Her leadership style was lifting others, dedicating her entire person to her subjects, up to her very last day when they canceled an online meeting of the privy council she was to lead at the request of her doctors.
Elizabeth II leaves us with the most important lesson for our times. Life is meaningful when it is about others. We genuinely find holiness in service, selflessness, and giving.In our day-to-day activities, holiness exists in the smiles we offer, the people we help, and the time we dedicate to what is greater than ourselves. Holiness is often searched for in high places and overlooked in our backyards, homes, communities, and countries. This attribute is the inspiration for the ages we draw from HM The Queen.
When someone we cherish passes away, it leaves a gap. We instantly notice that persona’s absence. Millions will wake up this morning to a different monarch. To close the void left by that absence, let’s do something for someone else byseeking holiness in giving to others.
Raphael Uzan was a 2021 CIJR Baruch Cohen intern. He studies law at the Université de Montréal and lived in the UK for two years.
