INSPIRATION WITHOUT BORDERS

HOW PRINCESS DIANA CONTINUES TO INSPIRE HER LEGACY.

Princess Diana’s kindness still inspires many today

Within all the digital chaos, Princess Diana’s kindness still sprouts seeds of compassion

“Everyone needs to be valued. Everyone has the potential to give something back.” – Princess Diana

When we think of Princess Diana, we remember the life she was enduring in-front of the cameras while receiving a lot of publicity - good and bad. Her kind kind heart captivated the public to learn more about who she was and what she was doing. Most notably however, we remember images of her hugging those she met during her acts of public service.

The story of Diana and her ordeals was all over news outlets in the 90s, she was followed, bombarded with cameras and put on the spotlight everywhere she went. In an effort to spin her lack of privacy into a positive experience, Princess Diana began to use the attention she was getting from the media to focus on important issues, in order to benefit people in need. “I think British people need someone in public life to give affection, to make them feel important, to support them, to give them light in their dark tunnels. I see it as a possibly unique role, and yes, I’ve had difficulties, as everybody has witnessed over the years, but let’s now use the knowledge I’ve gathered to help other people in distress.” She has said of her role and her redirection of cameras toward important issues.

Redirecting cameras to Landmines

While the world was focusing on gossip and what was occurring behind the cameras of the royal family, Diana redirected the conversation toward things she felt were more important, in particular, the issue of landmines in war torn areas such as Angola. The cameras captured her walk through a slew of dug-up or cleared out landmines. She wanted to highlight the work of Halo – an organization that works toward clearing landmines and explosives while also shedding light on how landmines were affecting the lives of innocent civilians.

Most memorably she was photographed sitting with and hugging children that were survivors of the landmines bringing out a powerful image of what negative impacts the landmines had on civilians. As a direct result of her trip, two years later, a Mines Ban Treaty was signed that halted the use, production and stockpiling of landmines – 122 countries signed the treaty. Her efforts played a crucial role in the progression of the treaty.

The impact of Diana’s compassion and kindness

Although Diana may have had a lot of resources to create such an impact, her actions demonstrate how even a simple thought or redirection within your means can ignite a fire and strike change. Princess Diana had cameras that were following her every move; newspapers were discussing her looks, her behaviours, her love life and other gossip. She already had that in her environment, all she had to do was walk to where and who she felt needed the attention the most and transfer her attention to them and she was able to create impact. In the same way, someone with a couple hundred of followers on social media can bring attention to issues or situations that can impact someone.

Now with the media frenzy regarding Meghan and Harry’s Oprah interview, let’s redirect our attention to positivity, kindness and compassion. Let’s focus on the ripple effects of Diana’s kind actions.

First there is The Diana Award

The Diana Award is an award granted to young people between the ages of 17-25 for their social action and humanitarian efforts. It is meant for people who are creating social change in the world for the sake of helping others around them. The award is an effort to inspire change in the world. ‘They provide support, mentorship and networking opportunities and collaborations with youth and companies around the world.’ says Maddison Tory a recipient of the award.

Maddison Tory Diana Award recipient

Very similar to Princess Diana’s flip of a negative situation to a positive one, Maddison Tori is creating positive impact inspired by an experience in her life beginning with an idea that was within her means. Maddison, who is from Calgary, Alberta, spent some time in the hospital as a 13-year old after having heart surgery. While spending time in the hospital, she saw the pain and loneliness that other children were experiencing and she ‘really wanted to give these kids and families a big hug’. That was when she came up with the idea of HUGS! – a social enterprise that raises funds for children in hospitals in order for them to have fun and happy experiences by selling scarves with hands at the end of each side of the scarf to create a hug effect. This is all done in an effort to promote children’s mental health in the hospital.

“I really feel a deep connection with Princess Diana through her understanding of the importance of hugs. She had once said that ‘hugs can do great amounts of good especially for children.’ And this is the legacy I plan to carry on.”

Twenty-four years later and Princess Diana’s actions at the landmines along with other humanitarian work, is an inspiration and is still creating ripple effects throughout the world.

The negativity spreading around due the aftermath of the Harry and Meghan interview can be a reminder to focus on all the good that has been, can be and still needs to be done. Princess Diana along with Maddison Tory are examples of how much of an impact you can make within your means and how much people need compassion and kindness because after all:

‘someone’s got to go out and love people and show it.’ – Princess Diana

If you’d like to create your own impact or save up funds to support causes please visit www.pachira.ca.

You can listen to an interview with Madison Tory here at:

Follow Pachira Social Enterprises for more updates and stories.

This article was artfully crafted by: Amal Zafar