Eliza Reid

But to say that I have a voice, I can speak up about issues, that to me was an opportunity that I didn't want to let pass me by.

I think sometimes I'm asked, and I sound like some sort of cliched brochure, but it really is true, that I would say that it's made me more of an optimist.

And I like to think that I'm a pretty upbeat, positive person regardless, but still a pragmatist, still a realist.

And really to have that privilege and that opportunity of serving in a role where I got to see, you know, not just say a grand opening or meeting kings and queens or all of these sort of fancy...

dare I say superficial, though I don't mean it that way, things.

But, you know, I met the woman who started the puppetry festival in this little village in Iceland.

And I met the members of the Lions Club who fundraised to get a new medical machine in their small health care center.

And I met the choir director who led the choir for 40 years in this village in Westfords.

And those are the things that really stick with me because most people, most people are good people.

It reinforced my faith, despite all of the negativity, which absolutely exists.

There's so, so many challenges that we need to be tackling now.

But I suppose it enabled me to see that in the face of a tremendous number of incredibly serious global challenges, the likes of which many of us, dare I say it, in our kind of

secluded high income country bubbles haven't necessarily seen in our lifetimes.

The opportunity to see these things gave me hope that we will all have the enthusiasm, the drive, the belief, the conviction that we can all do our part in some small way.