WITHOUT HOPE THERE IS NO FUTURE
Without hope there is no future
IN the midst of the funerals of 28 slaughtered innocents, it seems hard to consider where our bedraggled "peace process" can now go. However we must always look to the future. We must not be too optimistic, yet without hope there is no future.
The Omagh bombing has emotionally affected everyone in Northern Ireland and many beyond these shores. Perhaps it is inevitable that in such a small country everybody knows somebody living close to each murder scene. That is why many who live far away from Omagh have broken down on seeing video footage of the bombing.
We are not hardened to terrorism - just used to picking up the pieces of broken lives, businesses and futures.
It is not a time for Yes and No voters to lay claim and counterclaim to victory in the referendum. I voted No because I believed releasing terrorists, no matter what the motivation of their crimes, undermined all chances for peace because it destroyed the keystone of civilised society - law and order.
On the other hand no releases meant no Agreement. I took the view that the second attitude was tantamount to appeasement, surrender, not to a political ideology, but to murder. Others described it as having courage and vision. 70% voted Yes and 30% voted No. What I firmly believe is that 100% voted for peace.
If the vote had been different would the Omagh bombing have been prevented?
Probably not.
It might have changed the date, the venue, but probably not the deaths.
If terrorists want to kill, then, peace process or not, that iswhat they will do - unless of course they are imprisoned and made to remain there forever.
We cannot bring back Omagh's dead, but we can save their relatives from the horrific prospect that some day their loved one's murderers may enjoy the freedom to walk freely through Omagh's streets as their victims never will.
We, the people of Northern Ireland were asked to vote with imagination and vision. Well Mr Blair, let us now see you act with vision. Use your imagination and imagine what life is now like for those families and friends who have lost those most important to them. It's not a nice vision, is it? And most of us, myself included cannot even begin to imagine what it's really like.
Then try imagining what it has been like for those grieving after comparable slaughters in the past, when those guilty of destroying their lives were freed. That's called adding insult to injury.
Why won't you cut short your holiday to France, Mr Blair to visit Omagh? Then you might really get a vision of our injuries and imagine just why we cannot take any more of your insults.
ALAN JAMES GREER.
Co. Antrim
IN the midst of the funerals of 28 slaughtered innocents, it seems hard to consider where our bedraggled "peace process" can now go. However we must always look to the future. We must not be too optimistic, yet without hope there is no future.
The Omagh bombing has emotionally affected everyone in Northern Ireland and many beyond these shores. Perhaps it is inevitable that in such a small country everybody knows somebody living close to each murder scene. That is why many who live far away from Omagh have broken down on seeing video footage of the bombing.
We are not hardened to terrorism - just used to picking up the pieces of broken lives, businesses and futures.
It is not a time for Yes and No voters to lay claim and counterclaim to victory in the referendum. I voted No because I believed releasing terrorists, no matter what the motivation of their crimes, undermined all chances for peace because it destroyed the keystone of civilised society - law and order.
On the other hand no releases meant no Agreement. I took the view that the second attitude was tantamount to appeasement, surrender, not to a political ideology, but to murder. Others described it as having courage and vision. 70% voted Yes and 30% voted No. What I firmly believe is that 100% voted for peace.
If the vote had been different would the Omagh bombing have been prevented?
Probably not.
It might have changed the date, the venue, but probably not the deaths.
If terrorists want to kill, then, peace process or not, that iswhat they will do - unless of course they are imprisoned and made to remain there forever.
We cannot bring back Omagh's dead, but we can save their relatives from the horrific prospect that some day their loved one's murderers may enjoy the freedom to walk freely through Omagh's streets as their victims never will.
We, the people of Northern Ireland were asked to vote with imagination and vision. Well Mr Blair, let us now see you act with vision. Use your imagination and imagine what life is now like for those families and friends who have lost those most important to them. It's not a nice vision, is it? And most of us, myself included cannot even begin to imagine what it's really like.
Then try imagining what it has been like for those grieving after comparable slaughters in the past, when those guilty of destroying their lives were freed. That's called adding insult to injury.
Why won't you cut short your holiday to France, Mr Blair to visit Omagh? Then you might really get a vision of our injuries and imagine just why we cannot take any more of your insults.
ALAN JAMES GREER.
Co. Antrim
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0174
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
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