Yes, indeed. It is not selfish either to limit the number of big issues we care about and actively address or to focus our most immediate attention and energies on the people we love and care about.

I am often accused of not caring about or recognising as important big issues because I do not personally address them, but nobody can address all issues. We can recognise them as important and be glad other people address them.

And right now, I am also highly distracted that three of my closest friends (I only have 7 in that category) have coordinated themselves very badly and are all doing momentous, life-changing things today. One has just been discovered to have an aggressive cancer and is having her reproductive system removed in surgery today (thankfully, she’s finished using it), another is going to become a father at any point in the next few hours, a third is relocating from the other side of the world back to London today. I only need to regularly check in on the first two and can just be happy about the last one, but even though I know all this is small potatoes in the context of war, it all remains centrally important to me and that is absolutely fine and as it should be. I may check the news at some point today, but mostly to check there have been no plane crashes between Australia and the UK. (I never worry about this when I am on them) Otherwise, I’m going to be anxiously watching for WhatsApp notifications and hoping to learn that one person I love has come through surgery OK and another person I love has been presented with a healthy, new, tiny person for me to love and the woman he loves is doing well. This is what it is to be human.