Have you ever pondered the how of people’s ability to cope with extraordinary events? I’m thinking of the advent of World War II when the times suggested themselves as slower, kinder, more trusting, more willing to do a good turn, when normality was giving the benefit of doubt to put others first.

The shock of those brutalizing six years when events spiralled ever downward with loose tongues costing lives: how did those who endured through&beyond emerge emotionally intact?

How greatly did they suffer in virtue of not speaking? Their rigour and adherence to commitments made locked them in to a kind of mind/heart/spirit cell from which honour ensured many never attempted escape.

While comparing this global pestilence with a world war wildly over-eggs the puddin’, it does seem the closest subsequent generations have come to grasping the enormity of what went before.

We are fortunate that evolving habits will not trap us into silence and there will be no shortage of empathic understanding when we need to share our experiences of this weird epoch.

Captain Tom Moore, whose suasive vivacity and spirit has raised millions for the NHS, knows at the cellular level that duty and courage enable courageous contribution to the wider world. Slowly, deliberately, his aim was true and met the target of 100 garden rondells before his Centenary. He’d considered raising £1,000. At the time of writing, his walking total is a furlong over £29 million.

An elevated mind which belongs to an ocean-swimming lawyer sent some uplifting words. Don’t know if intended as both inspiration and Haiku, but they are.

And there is a tomorrow. It does improve, if ever so slowly.

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