2026-02-08 – News – www.theguardian.com
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts
• This week’s replies: why does a song sometimes get stuck in our heads – and what makes an earworm?
Is it possible to acquire courage if you don’t have it? I was moved this week by the story of the Australian boy who swam to land for several hours in rough seas to raise the alarm that his mother and siblings had been swept out to sea. Despite his exhaustion, he then ran several kilometres to find a phone.
But I’m also thinking of the lesser demands for courage – such as standing up to a friend, or family member, or tackling a company that’s ignoring your polite requests when you’re suffering from its actions. Or I also wonder how people do certain jobs that, to me, require buckets of courage: starting a business or any other sort of professional risk-taking; reporting from a war zone like Lyse…
