Queen Victoria reigned over Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until she died in 1901.  I heard a story about her recently that made me stop and think.

As the story goes, Queen Victoria was hosting a guest from a foreign country.  At the end of the meal, finger bowls of water were passed around so that everyone could clean their hands.  The guest of honour had never seen such a thing so he lifted it to his mouth and drank it.  Stunned silence passed through the room until the Queen raised her finger bowl to her mouth and drank.  And then all the guests followed suit.

Whether it’s an urban legend or a fact, it is such a great example of acceptance and making people feel that they are perfect just the way they are.

There will always be people who would shout from the rooftops at that moment, “What are you doing?  That’s not for you to drink!”  But those people are sad inside and live their life climbing higher on those they push down.  May we all strive to be people who drink from the finger bowl and show the person who “made the mistake” that they are one of us.  We are in this together.

As Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Let’s make the people around us feel like they are one of the tribe.  And never forget to drink from the finger bowls.