Inspired by Capt Tom’s ray of hope
JEVERYONE feels affection for Captain Sir Tom Moore; in the midst of darkness his brave, stubborn perambulations around his lovely family home brought humour and admiration to a beleaguered Britain.
But what I remember most was his optimism, expressed time and again as: “Tomorrow will be a good day.”
He could say that because he’d been through bad times before and knew that the sun always rises.And he knew people flourish with hope, as did Dame Vera Lynn when she sang, “I know we’ll meet again some sunny day.”
Optimism has been badly knocked during this pandemic. Public despair has festered, fostered by the news media, especially television, possibly to make sure we’re sufficiently frightened to stick with the rules, but also because crying relatives and dying patients make for arresting images.
Now the vaccination programme is rolling so triumphantly out, a tentative mood of hope is, thank God, beginning to emerge.We’re in the foothills of a massive global mountain, this time with all the right protective gear. It will take time but we’ll get there. So we need patience and confidence.
But what upsets me is the way so many “experts” keep telling young people that Covid has ruined their lives; how adults who should know better insist on telling our teenagers they’re part of a “lost generation”.
It encourages them to feel victimised. It makes them feel cheated and that someone’s to blame for this frightening hiatus in their young lives, when no one is.
We’ve been in a deadly battle with nature but it won’t last forever. Much worse has happened in the past.Young men have been sent to the front to fight and be killed. By 1918 there really was a lost generation.
We should encourage our children to be resilient and cheerful. They’ll not only survive, they’ll prosper.
And I saw two magpies in the garden this morning.