Whether or not we are in a sorry state in Northern Ireland
with the suspension of the Assembly and the return of Direct
Rule we are left wondering about what the future holds for
us. We look askance at the efforts being made by the Secretary
of State to bring together the party people, singularly and
hopefully collectively, in the attempt to restore the Belfast
Agreement and devolved government here. Experience has taught
us to expect a volume of words, accusations and responses,
that will be unedifying to a people in need of a peaceful
settlement of the primary problems which beset us. The first
one remains – how to resolve differences which produce
the antagonisms from which we suffer? The question is –
how can we live together peacefully as people who are required
to share this piece of earth? It is to state the obvious –
we have to strive for that understanding and trust which are
essentials to those who want peaceful coexistence in a society
where people are treated equally and fairly. The trouble we
are in is due in very large part, to the refusal of those
who do not honour their obligation to use politics only to
seek the society agreeable to them. We do not require to repeat
the condemnations of politicians and people, us among them,
who have refused to allow Sinn Fein/I.R.A. to continue to
be party with a private army as a threat to others, and in
government. Whatever the argument for Sinn Fein and its mandate,
the support of a percentage of voters, there can not be a
place for it in a devolved administration while that position
persists. We reiterate our commitment to the honest and honourable
sharing of people who prove their willingness to accept the
responsibilities of citizenship, and to act sensitively and
sympathetically together in the making of a society where
differences are understood and allowed as rights of individuals
who think, speak and act lawfully, and for its good. We do
not require to rehash the complaints of past inequities and
dubious practices, for we are being reminded constantly of
the inefficiencies and deficiencies of other days. We are
well versed in truth and error, fact and fiction, justice
and injustice. We have to recognise that the past is history,
the future is mystery and it is the mysterious future we have
to face. We know that there has to be changes of heart and
mind if we are to make progress towards the goal of a society
free of fear and the manifestations of what frightens people
– sectarianism, racism, racketeering, robbery, muggings,
vandalism, punishment beatings and killings, drug peddling
and other social misbehaviour not to be countenanced in any
good society anywhere. We know how easy it is to condemn what
is wrong. We have expressed our willingness to do what we
can to produce that good society good people crave and deserve.
To recognise diversities is essential in a community where,
like ours, they exist in things that profoundly affect people’s
lives, not just big philosophical and theological issues,
but the everyday ways by which they live. The struggle to
accommodate others so that they can live and let live together
goes on continuously among people who see that unless there
can be a breaking down of barriers and barricades which divide
them there can be no good future for the country. It is as
easy to describe the situation here as it is hard to change
it. And yet until that is done there can be no expectation
of peaceful co-existence everywhere here. To have conflict
confined to inter-face areas may make some happy not to live
in them but what affects part of society must influence the
whole. Trouble will not be imprisoned, it breaks out to endanger
and impoverish all of society. Because we have entrusted others
with the resolving of our problems – politicians, police,
community workers among them, we must encourage and assist
them in their efforts to produce the kind of society we need,
and that urgently. We hear much of Christianity here. We must
have the kind that works to bring people together in peace.
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