This summer, I've become a part-time custodian for dragonflies on the verge of drowning in the pool. I scoop them out of the water with a mesh net and let them rest on the crest of my thumb until their wings are dry enough for flight. The same kindness I offer other creatures — turning over the beetle helplessly scrambling on its back or catching the spider in a glass jar and releasing it outside. Even when it has gone unnoticed, the world knows of the quiet work we have done to let what wants to live, live. When we spare a life we could end without much effort, we honour the shared fleeting existence that sweeps between us. And the miracle that every life, including our own, can be lived another day by a kindness we never expected.