‘How do we live in this terrible world?’ a reader asked me. Here’s the only answer I have | Jonathan Freedland

This week we learned more of the depths of wickedness plumbed by the ousted Assad regime.

The discovery of what appears to be a mass grave site in the city of Qutayfah , marked by trenches long and deep.

Closer to home, the sentencing of the three people who caused the death of 10-year-old Sara Sharif , one of them her own father.

Jonathan Freedland says we can draw strength from those who dare to swim against the bleakest tides.

We don’t have to pretend that’s likely, but for a moment at least we can let in the possibility and the hope.

I think of Merope Mills , who endured the greatest loss any human can face the death of a child and somehow turned that pain into a life-saving gift.