When questions are especially interesting and difficult at the same time, as yours is, they tend to have several answers. We live because one day in early childhood we realise that we are alive and already have lots of reasons to go on living. These include the fact that there are many things about life that give us pleasure and happiness – even if sometimes we are sad, too, and sometimes ill: but these bad things pass. We live because of the happy things.

We live because there are people who love us, and people we love back. We live because we want to find out things, and learn, and become able to do things that we would like to do. We live because others want us to, and we want them to live along with us.

We live because we have hope, and want to see what happens next. I hope that lots of people live because they know life at its best can be wonderfully good, and want to help make it so: and that is a great reason for living.

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