Photo: Peter Morrison/ap
To My Brothers and Sisters in Ireland:
Oh. No. Not again. Who is that dragging you down that dark lane again? Down where the shadows are thick, and the big dogs and hard men wait? Who dares to drag you back to the place of guns and bombs ? Where the shattered lives and all the pain carried down from father to son to mother to child stains the ground with the blood of decades? Who would do such a thing - again?
Oh, please, please! Do not let them take you down that lane again.
See, y’all have been getting on so well lately. Your brightest stood up and called a peace. And, when you all said, “Peace? “ and the other side nodded, looking you straight in the eye, and answered: “Peace.” a funny thing happened. People watched for a bit, resisting the recalcitrant who sought to keep the “troubles” boiling. Then they started to believe. They peeked out of their doors, walked out into the sunshine, and grabbed hold of their lives. Working. Playing. Laughing. Living. Loving. Sitting in pubs and cafes. Talking – really talking. Nodding to each other on the street, Catholic and Protestant. To each other. And, while doing all that, you let the fear slide away into the gutter.
No, you did not give up your armories, but I figured as long as you did not use them, I don’t care what you have hidden under the hill.
But.
It seems that not everyone is walking on sunshine. Not everyone has put the darkness to rest, letting go of the pain and the grudges. Because this week two British soldiers and a policeman were killed in separate acts of protest against the Northern Ireland peace process. Protesting the peace process. As if all the decades of injury and death weren’t enough. As if eleven years of peace and children who don’t have nightmares of bombings were worth nothing.
What would come next? Reprisals? Another generation dragged into darkness, bitter and stunted by a hatred that should have been broken long ago?
No. No? No.
It seems you Irishmen like your sunshine. Turns out the Irish sunshine is stunningly beautiful. And, you hate that long, dark lane. So, there you are standing against the return of the troubles. Catholic and Protestant standing
shoulder to shoulder at the cordoned-off murder scenes. Peter Robinson, former deputy of Ian Paisley, and Martin McGuinness, formerly of the IRA, standing shoulder to shoulder. So many standing for Ireland and against the darkness. Flowers flooding in from all over Ireland and Britain in support of THE PEACE. With one voice you all are saying, “No more.”See, y’all have been getting on so well lately. Your brightest stood up and called a peace. And, when you all said, “Peace? “ and the other side nodded, looking you straight in the eye, and answered: “Peace.” a funny thing happened. People watched for a bit, resisting the recalcitrant who sought to keep the “troubles” boiling. Then they started to believe. They peeked out of their doors, walked out into the sunshine, and grabbed hold of their lives. Working. Playing. Laughing. Living. Loving. Sitting in pubs and cafes. Talking – really talking. Nodding to each other on the street, Catholic and Protestant. To each other. And, while doing all that, you let the fear slide away into the gutter.
No, you did not give up your armories, but I figured as long as you did not use them, I don’t care what you have hidden under the hill.
But.
It seems that not everyone is walking on sunshine. Not everyone has put the darkness to rest, letting go of the pain and the grudges. Because this week two British soldiers and a policeman were killed in separate acts of protest against the Northern Ireland peace process. Protesting the peace process. As if all the decades of injury and death weren’t enough. As if eleven years of peace and children who don’t have nightmares of bombings were worth nothing.
What would come next? Reprisals? Another generation dragged into darkness, bitter and stunted by a hatred that should have been broken long ago?
No. No? No.
It seems you Irishmen like your sunshine. Turns out the Irish sunshine is stunningly beautiful. And, you hate that long, dark lane. So, there you are standing against the return of the troubles. Catholic and Protestant standing
And we, your brothers and sisters from around the world, stand with you in your sunshine.
“No more.”
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3 comments:
Excellent post you were working on last night me darlin'. You are so tuned in to this world.... perhaps the new "boss." If you could just be in charge with that great mind of yours. This has to be read in Ireland....send it to a newspaper over there.
Amen, Sister Fe. Well said. Leave it to you to find the words that connects us to all.
I was raised Protestant and Catholic. Father a WASP and Mother a hard-core Spanish Catholic. They never saw eye-to-eye on the issue of religion, I'll grant you that, but they found a way to cohabitate and leave in harmony despite it. And, because each felt their respective religions was THE religion and neither would budge, all of the kids, as a meeting-in-the-middle agreement, got exposed to both. Simple as that. Not one took precedence over another. So, yeah, growing up I got ALOT of religion!
You know what? We don't have to agree on a whole lot of things, religion being the granddaddy of them all, but if a couple can find a way to do this, why can't we all? In the end, we are all human. We all feel the same emotions and same loyalties to our country/religion/family/things. We're no different. So why make it so? Let's just respect our differences and learn to get along...because that's a whole lot better than shedding our blood in the name of...
Lorelei!
You are good for the soul! But, I should NOT be in charge! I would wander off at random moments THEN where would we be? YOU, on the other hand would get all sorts of stuff done. Before breakfast!
Rebecca-san!
Perhaps I should start calling you Kaleidoscope Woman! You are everything to all. And, I think it is Fantastic! that all this stuff just roils around you until it falls into place! Your point about accepting differences? First we have to VALUE differences instead trying to ignore or eradicate them. Let us try. Let us try harder.
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