As I watch the nightly news and read the various newspaper stories outlining the horror and carnage that is unfolding across Ukraine and no doubt still happening in other unreported parts of the world, I wonder will we ever learn that violence is not the answer. When will we realise that bloodshed only brings heartache and grief to innocent families?
Children who cannot and should not be expected to understand the inhumanity that has shattered their innocent hearts and minds and others whose hearts and frail little bodies have been destroyed beyond repair. Silenced forever. And for what?
When this war in Ukraine is over, which I hope will be soon, the rest of the world untouched by the evil will get on with life. But for those who will have lost loved ones their lives will never be the same. Their days and nights will be filled with never-ending emptiness and grief.
They will endure a pain that they cannot soothe. They will never be able to hold that person ever again and tell them they love them, to see them smile or hear their laughter. Just the empty silence that makes no sense.
As my 73rd birthday approaches, I look back on the past 33 years since that night in 1988 when my brother John was killed and my mum and dad died soon after from broken hearts and I continue to ask... Why?
What did it achieve apart from grief and never-ending hurt for those left behind to pick up the pieces?
The gunman who killed John in his blind tit-for-tat hatred didn’t achieve the united Ireland he used as the excuse for his hyena-like, blood-splattered hunger for killing.
Perhaps, just like young Russians sent to Ukraine, he was too easily persuaded by the recruiting godfathers of evil that killing other men and women and even children was okay - easily explained as acceptable collateral damage in the pursuit of ‘the glorious cause’.
I think of the names of so many young children who didn’t get to live the lives their parents dreamed of because of our casually referred to ‘Troubles’ .
Patrick Rooney, Colin Nicholl, Maria McGurk, Nivruti Islania, Brigeen Dempsey, Leanne Murray... the list seems endless. And for what?
Some of you might not even recognise some of those few names. They are just statistics to you – but not to the families who lost them and still miss them every day.
Will the mothers and fathers of those killed in Ukraine on both sides die from broken hearts like my own mum and dad? Unable to have the strength to continue with a life that is so empty and meaningless?
I hope John’s killer has had enough time to reflect on what he did and what he achieved and realises that killing my brother and effectively killing my mum and dad was pointless. That his own life could have been used for so much good instead of wasting it on causing so much heartache.
It would be good to hear him say to me that he now, in hindsight, regrets what he did. That he wouldn’t choose the path of violence if he was given that choice again. That he agrees with me when I say that killing is not the answer.
But perhaps he is unrepentant and sleeps easy with the images that he can replay in his mind of pulling the trigger so many times that night to ensure John would die and the bullets would continue their journey into the hearts of my elderly mum and dad.
Only he can answer that.
GEORGE LARMOUR
(Author of They Killed the Ice Cream Man), Belfast
Distractionary tactics by DUP
If ever there was a situation which exemplifies a person living in denial, the metaphorical maxim highlighting the actions of an ostrich with its ‘head firmly buried in the sand’ surely and without prejudice duly applies. The DUP, including the leader of the party, fittingly fall into the category of mish mash, emptiness and falseness. Couple these undesirable traits with disenchantment and disillusion and you have utter hollowness laced with double standards.
As the world watches despairingly at the humanitarian catastrophe occuring in Ukraine, the horrific scenes of targeting a hospital, the mass exodus of women and children fleeing desperately in fear of their lives from the bullying tactics of their near neighbours this point is illustrated brightly by the egregious statements currently being spouted by the leader of the DUP. Displaying a fundamental lack of empathy and understanding to the people of Ukraine and ignoring the inequities and atrocities of Vladimir Putin, Jeffrey Donaldson again issues a ‘warning’ to Boris – “The war in Ukraine must not place a freeze on action on the Northern Ireland Protocol.”
Under the present context this is most assuredly a hideous and unpardonable testament. This nauseating nonsense was added to when Mr Donaldson, closely followed by Ian Paisley jnr, claimed, with a straight face, “People here in Northern Ireland are ‘suffering’ as a result of the protocol. I could give many examples of how the protocol is ‘impacting’ on individuals, on families and on businesses all across Northern Ireland.” It appears, according to Mr Donaldson, the protocol is more damaging than a Russian missile exploding in a hospital car park.
This must be viewed as typical distractionary tactics by the DUP, who have little or nothing else to offer, and who, in their desperation, are swinging from the lowest branch fumbling the empty space. What is required here is a fresh perspective with new ideas and a clear vision for the future as it is largely inconceivable the people who voted for the DUP consented to this rubbish being professed in their name.
KEVIN McCANN
Belfast BT1
Recording the equine fallen
The setting up Animal Aid’s Race Horse Deathwatch Ireland website is an initiative to highlight the animal victims of horse racing in both the Republic and Northern Ireland.
This website will list horse deaths at Ireland’s 26 racecourses.
At the heart of the figures is the evidence that horse racing is a brutal activity and its continuation cannot be justified.
Ireland’s entrenched love affair with horse racing renders horses as mobile gambling mediums.
From government level to our national broadcaster, down to those in the throes of a gambling addiction, horse racing is seen as a harmless day’s fun at the track.
What lives behind the fall of the white flag is an industry based on animal abuse.
Race Horse Deathwatch Ireland (https://irishhorsedeathwatch.com) is a hoof print into the mucky world of horse racing.
Recording the equine fallen on Irish racecourse battlefields means the truth cannot be discarded like a beaten docket.
JOHN TIERNEY
Waterford Animal Concern
Refugees deserve comfort
How kind of Archbishop Martin to offer unused church buildings for refugees. I feel a better, less costly measure, would be for all priests and bishops, nuns and brothers to double up and let refugees live in the houses where priests, bishops and others live presently – mostly on their own. The refugees deserve comfort, warmth and amenities and these houses would be ideal. Yes, vacant buildings brought up to standard. The property would still belong to the church.
MARY McDONALD
Belfast BT8
