June 2001 - Thought for the month

Inspired by President Dick's initiative in replacing the traditional Grace by ‘Thought for the Day', I'm suggesting a ‘Thought for the Month'. Anyway here's the first, and probably the last!

Yesterday I was appalled by a report in the Telegraph that school children in Belfast had to be escorted by armed police in riot gear from their school to homes on the other side of the so called peace zone to avoid being caught up in street rioting and gunfire.

This is part of Britain, and I am proud to be British but how can we have sunk so low that such a situation can exist? The Good Friday Agreement seemed to have raised a glimmer of hope at the time but this seems to be fading. In common with all the politicians I don't know the answer but what I do know is that both sides and the British government, in days gone by, share the guilt.

The problem is prejudice and the apparent inability of both sides to forget past grievances and injustices.  In the 60's I visited both north and south Ireland fairly often and I well remember travelling in the border region with an Irish colleague one evening. Where his sympathies lay was no concern of mine or the company's but I had a pretty fair idea! It was a beautiful evening and the countryside was magnificent as only Ireland can be. Out of the blue he turned to me and said ‘Lawrence, you won't believe that we are at war, but we are!'

My thoughts go to our fellow Rotarians in Northern Ireland, they share with us the Aims of Rotary, one of which is to foster international concord, which surely encompasses domestic situations, how difficult this must be for them. We can only wish them well and trust that with their help, sense will eventually prevail and a lasting peace will dawn in that troubled province.

Lawrence.