Email of the day (2)
Comment of the Day

January 16 2012

Commentary by David Fuller

Email of the day (2)

On muddling through:
"Like your other readers I try to resist the emotional pull of despairing at the mess that this world is in; the feeling of righteous indignation is strangely comforting but ultimately useless.

"When my four year old daughter sits on my knee, I'm often anxious for her future but I can't forget when I was four myself and on my own father's knee, he showed me the sinister shapes outside our window less than half a mile away and explained that they were nuclear missiles and he told me exactly what they were for and what they were capable of and why we needed them there.

"The world was hugely lucky to emerge from the mess our fathers created and I'm hopeful that with a little more luck we might eventually muddle through this generation's SNAFU. I'm trying my best to guide my family's tiny finances through the storm and if my little daughter would just get off my lap I could do a bit more research on the subject!"

David Fuller's view Thanks for a lovely email. Those memories - fortunately from the secure position on your father's knee - help to put "this generation's SNAFU" in perspective.

We all experience a degree of despair from time to time. At best it is a sign of intelligent awareness and concern regarding problems or uncertainties over which we may have little or no control. At worst it becomes a clinical problem which undermines the quality of our lives.

I trust that your daughter will always have fond memories of her childhood, not least when sitting reassuringly in your lap.

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