Blog Series:  General

(This entry was submitted as a letter to the editor of the Irish Times on May 3rd 2011)

Observing the euphoric celebrations that followed the death of Osama bin Laden, I was reminded of the opening paragraphs in Dexter Filkins’ “The Forever War”. Reporting from his experiences in Afghanistan in September 1998, the then New York Times correspondent describes the day he was taken to a ‘show’ at a football stadium in the capital city, Kabul. Four hooded men drove onto the pitch in a Toyota Hi-Lux van and proceeded to drag a fifth, blindfolded, man from their vehicle and throw him into centre stage. This blindfolded man - Atiqullah - had apparently killed another man in an irrigation dispute and both their families had now been brought to the stadium to face one another and resolve their family troubles.

The family of the accused hoped to offer compensation in lieu of judgment but the murdered man's family insisted on their rights to justice. As a result, the dead man’s brother was handed a rifle and, there and then, allowed to shoot the guilty party three times in the head. As Atiqullah’s lifeless body fell to the ground, his victim’s family raised their arms and voices in triumph, his own family wept in grief and anger; and in the background, through the stadium’s loudspeaker it was declared to those present: "In revenge, in revenge there is life." Given the scenes reported in recent days, it seems that many in our western culture have come to agree with this pronouncement. I am wondering about that, and I am fearful. 

Like most, I am certainly glad that bin Laden has been tracked down and can now no longer participate in terrorism. But how we have chosen to celebrate his demise has made me worry that we have forgotten the very great, and very important, difference between the seeking of justice in our world and the quest for revenge. As we have learned ourselves (or at least we hope so) in Ireland, the path to peace in our modern world can never be laid by force of arms and the vanquishing of our foes. Even without the irrefutable examples of Iraq and Afghanistan, if forced settlement through armed struggle could not be accomplished in the mico-setting of our island how could it ever be accomplished in any larger setting? We must face it. The days where there could even possibly be a Pax Americano or a Pax Nato are long gone. Any enduring resolution of conflict requires a breaking of the cycles of enmity, a moving away from the blanket despising of the ‘other’ and a movement towards the promotion of justice, equality and freedom for 'all'. History has more than adequately demonstrated that such negotiation and reconciliation are the only ways to bring the sort of peaceful world we are all dreaming of. 

To win the so-called ‘War on Terror’ it would seem to me that we must seek the ending of our own terror as much as any others; We must not only advocate the values of our culture we must determinedly stick to them; We must realise that our sophisticated weaponry and determined armed-forces can ever achieve their end in a context of reciprocated hatred. So my basic reflection is this, even if such action as that taken by seal team six is necessary, our response to it must exclude any triumphalism or tribal gloating. To those outside our culture or group, our reactions in these moments, perhaps even more so than our actions, are what reveal our true values and our true motivations and thus will have the far more defining impact on our future relationships. In the words of the US Army’s World War II memorial in Washington, our goal, even against terrorism, must be to liberate and not to conquer. It must be to bring into freedom and not to destroy. The title of Filkin’s book points us very well to what has happened, and what will continue to happen, when any other approach is followed.

Your fellow traveller who is so grateful that it is in forgiveness that we truly discover life.

Blog Series: Lessons from Patrick

If good intentions are not enough, what is it we need to be doing if we are to see reconciliation happen in our communities and nation? Well, as I ask that question, I’m reminded of the old saying that goes: ‘for every complex, difficult to understand problem in life there is a simple, easy to understand solution that is entirely wrong!’ How true. There are no simple or easy answers to the problems violence, hatred and desperate pain create. But that doesn’t mean there are no answers. In SPF we are convinced that Patrick’s legacy has enormous potential to help our nation and every other one to find such answers. In the way our Patron Saint choose to live his life we believe we can discover at least five effective though deeply challenging insights into what is required to see hatred overcome by love and alienation overcome by restoration.

These are:

1. The conviction that reconciliation is always possible. 

2. A clarity about the enemy to be overcome.

3. The willingness to pay the price that is necessary.

4. An understanding that reconciliation is incremental.

5. A determination to keep acting first.

Over the next few months, amidst other things, we will be examining each of the elements above and beginning what we hope will be a challenging and fruitful discussion on this immense and vital task that faces us all…

You fellow traveller who wishes reconciliation was easier.

Good intentions are way over rated. Let’s face it, when heading off somewhere new it makes absolutely no odds how sincere we are in our intention to get there. If we turn left when we needed to turn right at a crossroads, we are going to end up lost. Plain and simple.  

During my days in computing and electronics at Durham University  I spent a morning climbing the 3209 ft (978 metres) of Scafell Pike, in the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, with a friend. It was quite a climb. When we finally reached the peak, however, it was rather disconcerting to notice a higher peak about a mile away and to see what looked like the colours of lots of people ascending and descending it! Early in our walk we had veered west instead of east with the result that we had still not climbed England’s highest point! Likewise, in my days as a student pilot at Aldergrove Airport, one of my cross country runs (cross sea runs really) was to the Isle of Man.  I was flying the owner of the Pilot training school to a meeting at the airport there and, to save some time since he was running late, he just guessed the wind speed and direction from observation rather than get them from the met office. Imagine our surprise when we arrived at our destination only to discover that the Isle of Man wasn’t there! “Had it sunk?”, I hear you say and I must admit for a brief moment I wondered that myself. But no, it had not become a British Atlantis. The reason it wasn’t there had to do with us not the Island. Despite the hurry and the best of intentions the wind speed and direction we had based our course on were incorrect and thus so was our course.  We flew in the wrong direction and so we ended up in the wrong place! (You’ll be glad to know we made it eventually!)

All this is not rocket science, if you’ll excuse the pun, but as individuals and as a nation we seem so easily persuaded to ignore this simple fact when it comes to facing and overcoming the problems of conflict that ravage so much of our personal and cultural landscape.

If we do what is necessary to deal with poverty, racism and sectarianism in Ireland then poverty, racism and sectarianism will be dealt with. If we choose not to, or if we content ourselves with just doing a little tokenism or letting our so-called good intentions be the engine for our moves towards reconciliation then we will never arrive at the destination we say we want to reach.

In dealing with anger and hurt,  with fear and distrust;  in combating hatred and prejudice, racism and sectarianism it is not the thought that counts. It is what we do and how we deal with these issues that will determine our destination.

Your fellow traveller who is grateful for true north.