I was out running through the woods this morning and came across a rabbit, listlessly sitting in the grass – clearly blind and with a head full of tumours.

On hearing me approach, it tried to run, but being blind it ran straight into a tree and confused itself.

I made an instant decision that I needed to put it out of its misery, which entailed grabbing it by its hind legs, stunning it with a chop to the back of the head and finishing it off with a swing against the tree.

It was fast and the poor little soul was finally released from its misery and pain.

I then sat down on the grass and spent a moment with the rabbit, saying a prayer for its soul and shedding a tear or two on its behalf.

There was no-one else there to mourn its passing and I felt the curious combination of quiet satisfaction at being able to put an end to its suffering combined with the intense pain and responsibility of taking a life.

As I sat there with the lifeless body, the sun streaming down on us, I wondered how many creatures were going to die today whose passing would not be noted, marked, witnessed or remembered.

Not just animals, but humans as well.

For we have all become so used to seeing death and destruction in the media, in films and games, that we are almost blasé about it most of the time.

But the death of a living being (any living being) is a tragedy – if we were to take a moment to reflect on our own experiences of death on a regular basis, we may just all be a little more tolerant of each other.

For we would realise that our time on Earth is limited – all we can really be sure of is that we have this moment that we are in now.

Because of that, this moment is the most beautiful and precious gift available to us – and if we truly live it, we will be totally alive.

We have a responsibility, as guardians of the now, to make the most of every moment available to us:

By treating ourselves and others with kindness and compassion: by not complaining if things don’t always go how we want them to; by being generous and loving to those around us; by seeing the joy in life and recognising it when we do; by living consciously and encouraging others to do the same.