Dear Sir,

Five years of Covid and rising demand for mental health care. As we approach the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe, I considered the comparisons having lived through both.

With Covid, we had choices: get vaccinated when the vaccines were available, mask up when out and about, shop for groceries on the designated days, and follow guidelines from the medical professionals.

The Second World War we knew was coming, and there was a consensus that it would all be over before Christmas. Britain was not really prepared and had to scramble to get the war production moving — food was in short supply and rationing was introduced that lasted well after the war, until 1954. Everyone was allocated the same amount, having ration books for each member of the family. On purchasing, say, butter — the allowance being a few ounces per person — one would pay the cost plus so many coupons required. My father was a great gardener and we always had plenty of vegetables and fruit; the excess was preserved and jams were made.

School attendance was interrupted with Covid; however, with computers and the internet, learning was possible. During the Second World War, evacuees from London and all the big cities were sent to the countryside “safe havens”. The evacuees came with their own teachers; however, the school buildings were occupied by the local children, so the compromise was the local children would attend school in the morning for one month and the evacuees attend in the afternoon. The next month it would be reversed.

When one attended school, everyone had their gas mask in case there was a gas attack. Both parents worked and no childcare or nurseries were available. When the air-raid siren warned of an impending attack, we were sent home until the all-clear was sounded. We had to go over a railway bridge to reach our homes. There was a dogfight between a German and British plane. The German plane saw us, firing his guns which fortunately did not hit any of us. After this incident, we were kept in school and had to hunker down under our desks. It was a wonder we passed any exams. One night we were bombed out of our house and at 3am walked to my godfather’s house, where we stayed for a couple of days until the authorities were satisfied there were no unexploded bombs in the area.

I am doing the comparison of Covid and the five years of war we experienced to show the main difference. Yes, there was a chance one would die from Covid — and millions of people did — but during the war, one never knew whether one would survive to the next day. This is where I do not remember people being stressed out; we had to get on with life.

Quite frankly, people today do not know what stress is. Can you imagine what it was like to be a 12-year-old child, seeing and reading about the horrors of the concentration camps, the emaciated prisoners in what appeared to be pyjamas, hanging on to the enclosing wire of the camp? This is the type of experience that could cause stress.

In my humble opinion, and I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist, too many children are not told “No” — or, for that matter, disciplined. At Christmastime, we had one toy plus a Christmas stocking with an apple, some nuts and maybe a small toy. Nowadays, children get multiple toys whether the parent(s) can afford them or not. (The little darlings are entitled to them.)

Unfortunately, we have a “Me” generation when we have to have everything now, whether we can afford it or not. I believe I am correct in saying the average credit-card debt is about $10,000 in the United States. I was brought up with the mantra “If you cannot afford it, you do not buy it”. So with this debt, people do get stressed out not knowing how they are going to pay the bill — self-inflicted!

I worry only about the things I can do something about.

ANTONY SIESE

Paget