She finished by saying that her heart went out to those parents who had to live with the knowledge that their own flesh and blood were guilty of such an act.

In the local shop I found the article under discussion. “That mother must be a saint,” uttered one elderly customer. “If that had been me, I’d have campaigned to see them hanged.”

“The strength of her!” sighed a young woman. “Isn’t it a wonder that she wasn’t broken altogether ”

“Perhaps she came to the same conclusion as I did,” said the shop-keeper, herself a widow with seven children. “That, considering the world we live in, death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person.”

“One thing I can’t understand,” a politician once said to me, “is why one’s achievements are hardly ever in proportion to the time and energy spent on a project. Ventures I give my heart and soul to come to nothing, whereas others, to which I pay only scant attention, fall neatly into place.”

It reminded me of advice given many years ago by one of my teachers at drama school. “Keep going to auditions,” she told the group of prospective actors. “Send out your details, pester producers. You may never get the parts you hope for, but in my experience, effort is always rewarded. An offer will come your way ? though often from a direction you never anticipated.”

Why is that so  I wondered then. Now I say, why ever not  How could we possibly expect to gauge in advance other people’s reactions  It would be curious indeed if we could, since they have motives of their own, of which we know nothing.

But as long as we reach out, put into the world what we have of talents and commitment, like bread upon the waters it will come back? in one shape or another.

The thing to do is to keep trying, unfazed by rejection or failure, on the assumption that efforts do pay off, even though not necessarily in the way we expected.

Equality of opportunity is a fine ideal generally subscribed to. Who wouldn’t agree that everyone should be given the same fair chance 

But how can we call it fair  This principle, when applied, is the very anti-thesis of equality: a cruel weeding out of those unable to take advantage of the opportunities extended.

It would be different if all contenders started at the same base line. But ask any primary school teacher to identify those seven-year-old pupils they consider unlikely to be “of much use to society”. Their predictions will be largely accurate.

The little ones thus relegated to the bottom of the class will soon fall through the net and likely as not end up on the slag-heap of anti-social behaviour, crime and addiction:victims of a rigid value system that recognizes and rewards only certain narrowly defined assets.

But everyone, each and every one of us, has some potential worth exploring, something of value to contribute. There is a place and role for every person born, none more, or less, important than the other.

We all have the ability to flourish as well as the right to excel,at our own level, on our own terms.

A truly fair society is based, not on equal opportunities but on a system of equal values.