(Submitted to The Nationalist in August 1999, but not published.)
I lived for about twenty years in Africa, a troubled continent, if ever there was one. And yet, from time to time, hope shone out. Rhodesia declared itself independent in 1965 with a white-dominated government. Its Prime Minister stated publicly that there would not be a black government in the country for a thousand years. A few years later a war of independence began. It grew in intensity, lasting for about eight years. The official death toll, almost certainly lower than the real one, was of 80,000 people being killed.
Yet, in 1980, after long and hard negotiations, a new government was formed, made up of black and white. A new army was formed, too, with both black and white officers and men. In fact, the first army chief of staff was General Peter Walls, who had led the war against the independence fighters.
There were large-minded people there who were able, despite loss of life which had touched most families personally, to look to the future, to see not just what had been in the past, or what was in the present, but what could be in the future if people worked and shared power together.
In our case we have a sordid squabble which has festered on for thirty years. The people, north and south, have clearly mandated an end to it through the Good Friday Agreement. Yet the politicians have failed. They are like children who will neither lead nor be led, neither pull nor push. They squabble cantankerously, making issues where are none, and then they turn petulantly to Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern and say to them, ‘It’s your job to sort this out. Why don’t you do it?’
When are they going to grow up and face their responsibilities and start behaving like adults? When will they let go of their inward-looking pettiness and look beyond the tribal slogans and the party claptrap? The failure to form an executive on 15 July was a victory for vindictiveness, nothing else. When will they have the imagination and the courage to take those last few steps that are necessary to bring peace and to open up the road to reconciliation and to enable people to recognize each other first of all as human beings?
A Jewish rabbi once put a question to his students. ‘How can you tell day from night?’ One student answered, ‘If you look at a nearby fruit-tree and can say whether the fruit is an orange or a grapefruit, then it’s day.’ The rabbi made no comment. Another said, ‘If you look at a person walking in the distance, and can say whether it’s a man or a woman, then it’s day.’ The rabbi said, ‘If you can look at someone and recognize that person as your brother or sister, then it’s day. But if you look at a person and not recognize them as your brother or sister, then it’s night – no matter what hour it is.’