Not easy to stop the rot - 9th November 2007

"Something is rotten in the state of this place", wrote William Shakespeare (or words to that effect).
Just as we in the North appeared to turn the corner certain poisonous elements within our society have tried to reinstill a sense of terror in everyday life.It is sadly coinicidental that a few weeks ago I wrote about the sacrifices the people of Derry made in the fight against Nazism and Fascism. Derry men, Catholic and Protestant, fought and died side by side in the trenches. Within a fortnight of that particular column, armed men attempted to murder a Derry man as he left his kid to school at 8.30 in the morning. The actions of ruthless men attempting to impose their will on the majority through violence is not altogether unfamiliar...In broad daylight, in front of commuters and kids, these guys pulled a shotgun and blasted a loving father; a good Derry man. They claim that his life was only spared because a handgun failed to work properly.The Real IRA claimed responsibility and the group also claimed responsibility for the subsequent shooting of another man in Dungannon.It baffles me who these would-be murderers represent and their state of mind when they think these shootings can possibly further their cause.Who supports them? I don’t and nor do any of my family or friends that I know of. In fact, everyone I have spoken to regarding the incidents expressed feelings of resentment and disgust.These men don’t represent me or any other reasonable and humane nationalist in society. The fact is that, although they may not like it, the majority has spoken. I don’t just mean the majority of all people in the North, the majority of nationalists have spoken and we don’t want to go back to the days of fear and intimidation; days when there was rarley a morning news bulletin without the report of a politically-motivated murder.If the Real IRA had succeeded in taking the life of Jim Doherty they would only have succeeded in further alienating themselves from righ
t-thinking nationalists and republicans; the people they once claimed to be fighting for.It’s sorely disappointing that some people are still twisted with bitterness and hatred - so much so that they would murder a neighbour in the morning as he did the ‘school-run’.The legacy such a crime would leave is horrific. The impact on the child would be immeasurable. The loss of a father at any stage of life is hard enough to deal with. To have one unnecessarily, and violently, ripped from your life is something that would leave a permanent psychological and emotional scar. In time, the child may come to terms with the loss but would have been robbed of the fatherly love and support which we all need.In Sunday’s ‘Observer’ there was a guide to ‘space’. It’s something I know little about but I flicked through the book in a bid to increase my severely limited knowledge on the subject.
One particular piece of testimony stuck in my mind and seemed relevant to our current predicament.Dr Mike Foal, who has made six space flights and currently works at NASA training astronauts, was writing about his experiences. He wrote: “On my last flight, my biggest impression of the Earth was as the cradle of humanity. I’d look at Sudan and Iraq every day and I’d think: ‘Couldn’t we do this right?’ I’d look down at Asia and southern Russia and China and Afghanistan, and there’s no light at all. It’s like a barren planet there at night. Whereas all the coastlines are lit up - Europe, United States, Japan. The disparities on Earth geographically became a great focus of interest for me.”It made me think about recent events here in the North and the inability of some to look at things from any perspective other than their own.From space, Mike Foal could see all those countries warring, and in need, in different c
ontinents. Massive countries much bigger than the little island we inhabit. He could see countries which have not witnessed anywhere near the progress we have enjoyed; countries in which barbarism and genocide are daily occurences.When he admired the view of Earth from space - “it (the Earth) is bright blue, with the brown of the Sahara and the reds of Africa, or on the night side the black-blue that comes from the Earth reflecting moonlight” - I wonder if he could pick out the North of Ireland at all.If so, it must have been tiny. It is such a shame that the tiny speck which he may have seen mirrors the width of thinking of the narrow minded here; those who think only of their own cause and do not take the time to consider the impact their actions will have on others.Until they begin to view the impact of their actions from a greater perspective, the rot is unlikely to stop.