Plant trees and pick up rubbish!

MY MOTHER groans a little as she gets out in Tesco’s car park. ‘I feel old,’ she said.

‘Well, you are 95!’ I reply cheerfully. She nods and we shop for her groceries. There’s a lesson there about keeping going . . . an example for me.

It’s not always easy witnessing beloved parents struggle at the same time as coping with your own aches and pains. We all just get on with it.

Meanwhile, my husband Robin and daughter-in-law Aimee are planting 45 little trees (bought from the Woodland Trust) at the end of our field, while two grandsons ‘help’. In time, the trees will act as a ‘lung’ against traffic in the lane — where horrible people sometimes fly-tip.

Of course, of our four generations, most of us won’t see them grow tall; we’ll be frolicking in the glorious forest in the sky. All the more reason to get on with it right now.

Two weeks ago I published a letter from 25-year-old ‘Hanna’ — bitterly angry and unhappy at her lack of worldly success

and Brexit and people not caring about the planet. I tried to give a positive pep talk, which included the words: ‘the trajectory of humankind is towards slow-but-sure betterment. It really, really is.’

A loyal reader called Stephen approved of this tone (especially as he has two daughters) and recommended the book Factfulness by the late global educator Hans Rosling to reinforce the message.

The subtitle is Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World — And Why Things Are Better Than You Think.

Packed with statistics, it’s a blast of fresh air. Everybody should read this fascinating paperback (greatly admired by Barack Obama), especially poor Hanna, and all those who cry ‘catastrophe’ at just about everything.

The moral in all this? For a start (with two terrific Mail campaigns at the forefront of my mind) I’ll say: ‘Plant trees and pick up rubbish!’ Then, make the most of the time you have on this Earth, be positive — and (even when things go wrong) just get on with it.

Bel answers readers’ questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, london W8 5TT, or email bel.mooney@dailymail.co. uk. Names are changed to protect identities. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence.