Red and yellow roses with blue irises sit in a white vase on the table where I am writing. Roses have for so long been a symbol of love, ‘red roses for your valentine’, but roses also have thorns hidden below the rim of the vase, concealed in the green leaves. How often is our own pain, or the pain of others, hidden below the surface? We see the soft petals but, sometimes, as we delve into the depths, the thorns are waiting.