Overview

The last few years have been incredibly turbulent within Northern Ireland, or the north, or simply put, the place we call home. The process and eventual vote in favor of Brexit took divisions that had previously existed and exploited them. Instead of softening old wounds, the process of Brexit used words to rub salt in them and created fear of new ones.

We then encountered the emergence of COVID-19. What began as something which would unite us – our collective human effort to gain unity of purpose and a spirit of cohesion – quickly turned sour. After emerging from lockdowns with the advent, and indeed luxury, of a vaccination programme ahead of us, voices began to emerge which again exploited people’s fears. Fears of the vaccine and its makeup and fears of what the vaccine would do to you. This created new fears.

As a fresh Assembly election looms, old fears are again being exploited and new fears are being created. Elections can quickly bring out the worst in so many of us – myself included. In the past, they have been a divisive process, and they have been incredibly messy, and indeed painful.

We are standing at a crossroads. What has driven us to this point can often feel like something more than what it is. Certainly, individuals have been a part of the process, but they have simply been the vessels for words. Whatever your view of this place we call home it has been an island that has been soaked with bloodshed and pain for hundreds of years. So many lives have been lost through warfare, through famine and now through illness. Lives are lost every day to the horrors of suicide. We lose people every day to the cancers that infect and try to kill our humanity.

Regardless of your identity we each of us are part of a shared body – that of humanity. We are imbued with a spirit of possibility, of compassion and an unquenchable desire to survive. We are bound by love, whether we like it or not. There is much that divides us, but so more that unites us.

Here in this time, in our shared humanity and shared hurt, we need a moment of shared healing. I believe such healing can be attained through personal healing, and then through collective societal healing.

Personal Healing

Once upon a time, not too long ago, and not too far away there was a boy. This boy was preparing to begin post primary school. Full of hopes for what lay ahead he took those first tentative steps forward into the life of his school. He was intelligent and a bit quiet. His exam results were among the top in his class. Fast forward four years and this all changed. He was not a happy student, his results had dropped to low E’s, he did not engage in any extracurricular activities and his quietness had become near silence inside class and outside. Why? Well, it was because over the course of those years the boy was being bullied on a daily basis, before school, during school and after school. Only when he got home did he feel safe. Why was he bullied? Because his skin was a bit darker than most people in his class. He was mocked, beaten, tied up and the rest. On one occasion he had his glasses broken right in front of him; so, for the rest of the day he could not see the work on the blackboard in class…when asked by his teachers what happened to his glasses he simply replied “I’ve lost them.” You may have drawn the correct conclusion by now as to the identity of this boy…he’s writing these words for you now.

Over the years I have through family, friends, professional counselling and indeed faith found real healing. I have forgiven those who wounded me. More importantly though I have used these experiences of pain as a moment of learning and change. It has helped develop my views on nonviolence and a desire for social justice. It has helped me rally against injustice and stand up for those who are being oppressed. I have found healing, and it has transformed me for the better.

Shared Healing

Having found my own place of healing it has given me a desire to see wider healing. To find shared healing. We are in a perilous place right now. Aside from the hundreds of years of bloodshed and famine here, look to a more recent past and see the recovery from a financial disaster, of having no government for over three years, and now the more recent instabilities. For too long here, ego and pride were allowed to have their say. What have we learned? As we have become accustomed to being let down over the years this has helped breed a sense of apathy and it’s all so mediocre.

As I mention, faith has played an important part of my life. As Catholics we have the process of “confession”. However, the true title of this is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This Sacrament is the total antithesis of mediocrity. By availing of it the penitent throws themselves on the mercy of the Lord, asking His forgiveness. It is a place in which great healing can take place. The reason why I was drawn to this is because there are times in our lives when we may find ourselves asking; can we ever go back to the way things used to be? Whether these times be good or bad. The answer is a simple and resounding no. However, something altogether different can occur.

Through a willingness to find a place of Healing or Reconciliation we accept that we are not content to go back to the way things were, but rather we would rather bear witness to something new and altogether more beautiful. Perhaps one way to look at it (if I could be so bold) would be to say that Reconciliation is the Sacrament of Resurrection. We are not reborn or reincarnated or even revived but rather we are resurrected from our slavery to sin and mediocrity to a new life in Christ. This is all very well for the person of faith, so can I paint this picture in a non-faith way?

Yes. Our province is deeply unstable now and there is much fear and worry about what will happen next. We cannot go back. So, we move forward together, and the question is what do we want to move towards? The Troubles of Northern Ireland’s past proved many things and one of these is that we are a remarkably resilient people. Here we are in 2022 having emerged from a major conflict, battered, bruised and probably more than a little embittered but standing strong none the less. Yes, our parties disagree more often than agree and yet here we are having managed to bring a stable police force to Northern Ireland, a health care system, a phenomenal tourist industry as well as a blossoming entertainment industry with television and filmmaking on the rise. We are a hotspot for culture and the arts and have a vast diversity of nationalities coming to make their home right here in Northern Ireland. We should be proud of how far we have come.

If Northern Ireland is to move forward it will require a Resurrection. This will require the death of an old way. Perhaps it is time for each of us to find personal healing and try to heal up the old wounds and divisions. Perhaps it is time for those with a guilty conscience to alleviate their guilt and come clean. I know the prospect of owning up for things we have done in our past is incredibly difficult but when you do so you will emerge as a stronger person more at peace with yourself and with your community.

So, we continue to wait at the crossroads. Perhaps in such a scenario I could defer to the wisdom of Abba in their illustration that we are “standing calmly at the crossroads, no desire to run. There’s no hurry anymore, when all is said and done.” As we wait at the crossroads, the question is, do we stand alone, or, will we stand together seeking a shared healing, a lasting reconciliation and a new beginning?

Dominic O’Reilly