IT’S been a rather fraught couple of weeks in Northern Ireland, and in particular my city of Derry. We have seen young journalist Lyra McKee, with her whole life in front of her, murdered on a Creggan street in an attack claimed by the New IRA.
We have seen masked men fire shots in a Belfast housing estate as a mark of respect for a republican comrade. We have seen children narrowly miss being hit by petrol bombs as they played in the street when a riot broke out during a security alert on election night. Bomb scares are the norm again. Rioting is commonplace.
Last week a young mother and her little kids escaped death in pipe-bomb attack which she said happened because she has Catholic friends. Her six-year-old son carried the bomb from where he was playing in the garden into his mother in the family kitchen.
A 12-year-old child was charged with offences connected to rioting.
And just this weekend I attended the scene of an arson attack at a Catholic church in my city, where youths had deliberately set fire to and damaged part of the chapel and parochial house. Two nights before that an old school had been set ablaze.
It would be easy to slip into the mindset that the world is full of horrible people wishing to inflict only hurt and pain on each other – and, believe me, I have at times in the small hours of the night when I can’t sleep. These past few weeks have been devastating, heartbreaking and frustrating for those of us who want peace and normality for our children.
We were watching everything we have built up be torn down brick by brick and seemingly thrown at police.
And this weekend we were left feeling helpless as disaffected youths try to burn down what many consider to be the beating heart of our community.
We saw gunmen and all the trappings of paramilitaries return to the streets and suspect devices being blown up in controlled explosions. A different type of Troubles is emerging and our children are getting used to it.
There is definitely an air of fear, lawlessness and uncertainty around and it is impacting on our kids in a far from positive way.
Our children feel our stress and worry. Perhaps mine more than most because I am a reporter and am generally closer to these incidents than most mums would be, so they are privy to more of the harsh details. But all of our kids, particularly teenagers, are on social media and are now tuning into these incidents that are becoming more commonplace. And it frightens them. It can also lead them to think that society in Northern Ireland is crawling with people intent on solely hurt and chaos.
My older sons worry, particularly for me working the streets of this city. I had to remind them – and indeed many times, myself – this week that there are more good people than bad in this world and I told them to focus on that.
When one person pulled the trigger and Lyra McKee died, I told them of how a dozen people rushed to her to aid even though they didn’t know if the shooting had stopped. I told them of the bravery of the policemen who drove through the burning barricades to take her to hospital and the army of hospital staff who battled to save her and of the people who embraced and comforted them after she died. I told them of the thousands of people who came out to sing for peace and hope in the wake of her murder.
I told them of the hundreds of messages of support which that young Waterside mother received in the aftermath of the horrific pipe-bomb attack on her home and family.
I told them of the dozens of people standing in the church car park watching the flames, embracing the parish priest as brave firefighters battled to save his chapel and his home. I told them of the people praying together and those who called the next day and offered their help to repair the building or do whatever it took to make him feel he wasn’t alone.
I told them to focus on the good. And that’s what I intend to do.
