I SPENT the last week in Belfast, covering the Twelfth with an international news crew and I came home feeling thoroughly downhearted.
Most of the week I spent along the peace line, speaking to people on the Shankill Road and the Falls Road. I spoke to bonfire builders and politicians, people on the street, community workers and members of the community, people who were afraid or were angry, depending on what side of the wall they were on.
We filmed at the peace wall, which I have driven along hundreds of times without thinking.
But when you stop and look at it through the prism of an outsider's eyes is completely mad and terribly sad. And it's not normal.
I talked to people in Tiger's Bay who said their culture was being stripped from them bit by bit. They felt the bonfire presented no harm to those across the peace line, was "only for a day" and that they had to "put up with the music from the New Lodge Fleadh for two weeks".
They said people were taking their flags and restricting their marches, they were angry and distrustful and they wanted their culture to be respected.
I walked across the road and talked to the people of the New Lodge who were living in fear of attack. The street was totally devoid of children at 3pm on a sunny Friday afternoon because they were being kept in their houses by their parents.
People told me they were fed up listening to the loyalist songs and loud music and shouting for the weeks that the bonfire had been there. They showed me broken windows which had been hit by golf balls.
They were fearful, living on edge and wanted their desire for a peaceful life to be respected.
We went into the Shankill Road and were welcomed into the home of a family who were members of a loyalist marching band. They spoke of their pride for loyalism, their pride for their community, their people, their culture, their music, their traditions and their real fear and anger that the Northern Ireland protocol was threatening all that they held dear. They spoke of real concerns for their future and the future of their children.
We saw a vibrant community who wore their heart on their sleeves and whose passion was clear to see.
And we crossed the peace line and we spoke to people on the equally vibrant Falls Road. They had just as much pride in their community, in their people, culture and traditions.
They told us about their fears, their concerns, their anger and frustrations, their desire that their children and grandchildren grow up in a place of peace and prosperity, and not be saddled by the Troubles, Part Two.
Members of the community on both sides of that massive wall talked to us, but they weren't so keen on talking to one another. Walls built between them has at times - particularly our summer season - made a mystery of those living on the 'other side' and they appeared more divided than ever.
The rest of Belfast has been allowed to move on and enjoy living normal lives, yet there are those for whom division and hatred and distrust are very real, every day things.
The reality is for some people, a simmering menace - the ghost of our Troubles - is still haunting many parts of Northern Ireland. And we wont be OK until everyone is OK.
At the weekend, bonfires were lit all over Northern Ireland and some of them were adorned with anti-Catholic symbols. The flags Catholics hold dear were set alight alongside the posters of politicians. Boards and bed sheets were painted with derogatory remarks.
In August we will see bonfires lit to commemorate the introduction of internment. In Catholic areas such as the Bogside and the New Lodge, we will see massive structures built and adorned with the flags Protestant people hold dear.
They will no doubt burn poppy wreaths, and Somme banners and messages to Soldier F and perhaps boards and bed sheets with insulting and offensive messages on them directed at the loyalist community, pouring salt into old wounds.
I think I say this every year, but nothing in this place will change unless we change it. It's up to us. Every single one of us. Not just the politicians.
We need to talk to one another, listen to one another. Understand one another. Otherwise our kids and our kids' kids will be dealing with the same issues.
