We are living in chilling times.
Turn on the TV and there is disaster. Disaster with a dusting of miracles from wreckage. But disaster nevertheless.
Children today found silent and motionless in cars.Terror levels elevated.Peace treaties straining.
Do we lose something at these times? Or do we gain something? Gain something as we...become?
Well, I am afraid we lose something.
We lose perspective.
But we gain resilience.
We gain sensitisation but we lose sensitivity.
We gain a tough shell but the cracks don't superglue as well as they used to. We've tried it once too often and a complete remould is required. And that's going to cost.
At these times it takes something huge. Or perhaps something infinitesimal to put our worlds back on their illusory pedestals. So I have something for you.
I am going to give you nine words. Nine words that will give you back your perspective.
But they will challenge your resilience.
I am going to give you nine words that will force you to realign the darkness. That will give you a glimpse of how black the vortex can get so you can appreciate the light you're clinging onto.
Some of you will be changed by this and you should not read on.
For some of you, this will be a scream. For others it will be The Scream.
For some it will draw a line under what you thought was achievable in the world.
What you thought was right,fair, what you thought you "deserved".
Well, I am sorry. But you've already been misled and I take no responsibility for that.
Since when did anyone get what they deserve?
You deserve nothing.
So take your place in the resilient generation.
Or join the queue for cognitive therapy.
In yet another week that balanced terror with horror, many of us could see only one safe place.
But we are not celebrities and we are not in the house.
For us it's been another week that reported the gap between affluence and poverty, another week that has taken a step closer to the final division of humanity into those two separate species - the haves and the have-nots.
For those of you who absorb all these horrors, I offer nine words.
For those of you who shield yourself in cocoons, I offer nine words.
Nine words ripped from today's headlines.
"Michael McIntyre signs 'golden handcuffs' deal with the BBC".
