I was drawn to Jonathan Freedland’s article (‘How do we live in this terrible world?’ a reader asked me. Here’s the only answer I have, 20 December), as it is a question that’s continually on my mind. There’s much substance in his well-informed piece, though the ending’s quite simple and resonates with my own take: “Perhaps by accepting that it’s the only one we have and that it’s not always so terrible – that sometimes, even quite often, it can be rather beautiful.”
One of my responses to this ever-present question is to have gratitude for what I call “magic moments” in nature – like this morning catching sight of the heron, almost invisible, being so amazingly camouflaged among the reeds by a stream; I said “good morning, heron” softly, but didn’t linger because I’ve come to realise that they don’t like being looked at for long.
