There is hope, no matter how dark the world appears to be

THIS year’s Darkness Into Light event has a special resonance, I find, coming as it does after the long months of lockdown and the recent weeks of living hell unleashed by a greedy dictator.

And that’s without even mentioning the climate emergency, rising fuel costs, debt concerns, and the countless other slings and arrows that seem contrived to keep our hearts heavy and the smiles off our faces.

There are so many reasons to be downright miserable, depressed and, yes, suicidal, as we make this often rocky, sometimes hazardous and occasionally frightening journey across time and space.

But I say it’s still worth staying the course. No matter how desperate or overwhelming the odds appear, we mustn’t lose hope.

I found the early days of lockdown oppressive and almost unbearable. It was straight out of a dystopian novel about a futuristic society where life was just not worth living. Sometimes it felt like being under house arrest, or confined to an open prison.

Except that life IS, I believe, worth living. A week or so into lockdown I found that walks in the countryside, even if restricted to two kilometres, could be uplifting and therapeutic. Like many others, I rediscovered aspects of nature I’d forgotten about or blithely taken for granted.

Breathing the clean country air during lockdown seemed a privilege. We couldn’t travel very far, or go to the pub, but we could reconnect with Mother Earth. So, lockdown had its upside, once you began to cope with it.

Some problems that people face are not so easily resolved, but equally we know that almost every problem, however scary or devastating it might appear, can be solved, or shared, or avoided... especially if we seek help with it.

The reminder we hear so often from voluntary groups, to ‘pick up the phone’, is the best advice going, because it’s true that there’s always someone out there who can help turn things around.

Sure, the world is full of horrors and dark clouds can obscure the minds and pathways of any human being, but there’s hope too: helping hands, support available by just reaching out.

It doesn’t have to be darkness for any of us, no matter how daunting the hand of cards that life has dealt us.

So, before contemplating or taking that final step, why not talk to someone? There’s light, too, in abundance, and relief, and rainbows in the sky, and solutions that maybe we hadn’t thought of.

JOHN FITZGERALD, Callan, Co. Kilkenny.

Heed nuclear warning

THERE is an old adage which states there is no point in carrying a weapon of defence unless there is willingness to use it.

As far as Russia is concerned they are being pushed very quickly to such a situation of necessity. To prove its seriousness, it is possible, indeed likely, that Russia, before ‘nuking’ all its bitter enemies, will give a demonstration of how lethal its nuclear arsenal is. They will choose an appropriate target and unfortunately Britain and our own island will appear in their crosshairs. Britain has been one of the most vociferous advocate of destroying Russia, and Ireland, unfortunately, with hardly the ability to defend itself against a determined swarm of seagulls, has proved itself every bit as belligerent in word if not in deed.

The war in Ukraine, though murderous and horrific, is really only a ‘phony’ war.

Unless the present situation is brought to an end by negotiation, a real World War Three will cause casualties counted in thousands of millions and possibly even end human habitation on this wonderful planet.

All the problems of the present will be eradicated forever.

Governments who lead us to the edge of Armageddon had better wise up and take Russia seriously before it is too late.

PÁDRAIC NEARY, Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo.