Fragile isn’t a word we use lightly about anyone or anything. Increasingly it describes the state of so many people and such a lot of our life support systems. Physically through conflict, crime, coercion, climate and costs. Mentally by dint of pace, process, pressure, pride, prejudice. Humans are capable of bearing much pressure but there is a limit for each of us, determined by health, age, intellect and courage. Humanity wouldn’t still be here making the progress no other creature has even seen without massive resilience. Sometimes that resilience fails.
The old remedies for fragility were the Victorian concept of ‘get a grip’. A good approach for those teetering on the brink of fragility. Like every abyss, there is a cliff edge and when you fall over it you precipitate to you know not where. So our first duty is to avoid falling. We cannot sometimes do that. A tug of war ends in one side capitulating. We can’t always be the winning side. Nor should we expect to be. Determination is good; grim determination is incompatible with the wish for a fulfilled life. Our fulfillment requires that others are fulfilled too.
I told a tender, loving story to two people of like age, early fifties, in the same setting but at different times. One immediately shed a tear, sensing the fragility of the time at which it happened. The other looked embarrassed at the prospect of being emotionally left in a limbo of self-censorship. Not a criticism of either or of anyone, just a reflection of two people’s ability to relish sensing, or not. The loss was the dry-eyed one’s. Her heart didn’t touch the moon.
Sheer guts makes the world’s progress. Sensitivity makes the world’s love. Both will be around as long as humanity is the enchanting, complex foment it is. We can encourage, urge, understand, empathise. When we do we confirm that the quiet nobility of bearing witness is underestimated. We may not then make dollars. We will certainly create scholars of life.
A precious vase is fragile. It is priceless too.
So is every sensitive human, fragile or robust.
Good morning
John Bittleston
When you feel fragile try saying: My fragility is a measure of my love and I am thankful for that.
And tell us at [email protected], please.
04 December 2025
