Zadie Smith

rituals which formed billions of people's lives.

The things they would have done in the afternoons rather than sit in front of a TV with their dinner on their laps, the churches and mosques and synagogues they would have gone to, ritual.

So the shape of a life used to be defined by those things, and they do bring meaning.

They stand in when we don't have the words, when we don't know what to do, when we feel lost.

That, I think, is, in fact, the biggest difference between, for me, being 25...

and 50s.

When I was 25, I used to genuinely have the feeling, what's wrong with all these

ridiculous people who can't create their own meaning, who run off to these faiths or philosophies or feel they need to be charitable or do these kind of things.

Why don't they just man up?

And of course now that thought is so repulsive to me that vulnerability and need are to be treated with contempt.

But I think I did think I used to watch people volunteering, you know, and think, oh, they're only doing it to make themselves feel better.

Well, yeah, that's the point.

Yes, smart ass.

That's the entire point.

It feels good.

It feels meaningful.

That's why people do it.

You couldn't have told me at 20.

I was a fool.

Of course I see it.