TODAY, the world is going through troubled times. There is hardly a country that is not experiencing an economic crisis.

Countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal are perilously close to financial collapse, and many are beginning to question whether the euros will survive. At the same time extraordinary things are happening to the world’s climate.

In short, the world seems to be going through a kind of shaking, causing us to ask - ‘what is going on and why?’ We in the United Kingdom are not immune from all of this and are being forced to make difficult decisions of our own, with the result that we are being called upon to tighten our belts.

For the older members of our community: those who lived through the Great Depression and the horrors of the Second World War, with its years of deprivation and hardship, perhaps there is much they could teach us about how we should handle what is going on.

A recent survey was carried out among this age group, in which they were asked - ‘what was the happiest time in their lives?’ Most surprisingly, many chose the war years: the daily realisation that the nation was under imminent threat, brought people together in a remarkable and unified way.

Selfishness and cynicism went out of the window and prayer became a daily part of their lives.

There also arose a determination of spirit that said, that no matter what horrors we may have to face, we will face them, and face them they did!

John Morris, St George’s, Kendal