"A spectre is haunting the land and that spectre is very very silly."

Having read about and witnessed the unedifying antics of some shoppers in recent weeks, I am left with a rather deflated opinion of humans in general. Sure, we are in unusual times - the illusion of certainty has been stripped away by the onset of a new virus. But it is not ebola and it is not the Black Plague on a comeback tour. If you get Covid 19 you will almost certainly get well again. There will be no death carts in the streets.

But here we are, with empty shelves. Today I could not even find a packet of cooking salt. Perhaps folks would rather die another way, all that seasoning being poured into the truckloads of pasta that have walked out the door. I know that anxiety can drive a person to act irrationally. But it is also possible to step back out of your anxiety and ask deeper questions about your thinking and behaviour. Yes, change is possible.

This will pass but the damage is done. Despite the massive improvements to health systems and educational opportunity, despite the many benefits of modern technology, a cross-section of the population is unhealthier in body and mind.

My mother, who lived through the London Blitz of World War 2, told me the story of how one day, she awoke to find the neighbours house destroyed by a bomb. Her father simply said, "June, get on your bike and ride to school."

Which she did. I can only imagine the to-do that would happen today, with tissues (if you could purchase any) at every ten paces. The culture of complaint is embedded. The stoics among us are few.

Having said all this, I am only too well aware of my own frailties, which I contend with on a daily basis. Casting stones is is not unlike disturbing your own reflection in a pool of water with a pebble. So best beware where you cast!