PEACE HAS TOUCHED US ALL
Peace has touched us all
THE Omagh bomb brought intolerable grief and unimaginable pain to those families and friends of all who were tragically lost on that unforgettable Saturday afternoon.
The strange thing is it also brought a new kind of peace that has touched everyone in Ireland. There was not a household north or south who did not shed tears over the carnage and then again watching with sadness all those funerals of the innocent.
We now have a situation of mothers looking at their children more closely and feeling, "What if I had lost one of you?" The same question being asked by husbands, wives, grandparents, brothers, sisters and friends. Relationships have been repaired and rekindled. Friends have become closer, now the silly arguments they once had seeming futile. We all came to look at one another in a new light, appreciate each other more, our pains and aches growing less against the pain and suffering we witnessed of the victims of that bomb of hatred.
As the families in Omagh and elsewhere came to terms on Sunday night with their tragic loss, I, for the first time spent that night in the delivery suite watching my daughter go through labour to give me a beautiful granddaughter.
I watched life being born, not being torn away. I watched her go through the trauma and pain and then her joy and relief and I witnessed the miracle of new life being born. I then asked myself as so many others did, "how in God's name could one human being take another's innocent life, especially those who never harmed them and who they never even knew".
We are all now one huge family grieving the loss of a loved one, and as in all families, we never want to hurt one another again.
MARIE GALLAGHER,
Belfast 17
THE Omagh bomb brought intolerable grief and unimaginable pain to those families and friends of all who were tragically lost on that unforgettable Saturday afternoon.
The strange thing is it also brought a new kind of peace that has touched everyone in Ireland. There was not a household north or south who did not shed tears over the carnage and then again watching with sadness all those funerals of the innocent.
We now have a situation of mothers looking at their children more closely and feeling, "What if I had lost one of you?" The same question being asked by husbands, wives, grandparents, brothers, sisters and friends. Relationships have been repaired and rekindled. Friends have become closer, now the silly arguments they once had seeming futile. We all came to look at one another in a new light, appreciate each other more, our pains and aches growing less against the pain and suffering we witnessed of the victims of that bomb of hatred.
As the families in Omagh and elsewhere came to terms on Sunday night with their tragic loss, I, for the first time spent that night in the delivery suite watching my daughter go through labour to give me a beautiful granddaughter.
I watched life being born, not being torn away. I watched her go through the trauma and pain and then her joy and relief and I witnessed the miracle of new life being born. I then asked myself as so many others did, "how in God's name could one human being take another's innocent life, especially those who never harmed them and who they never even knew".
We are all now one huge family grieving the loss of a loved one, and as in all families, we never want to hurt one another again.
MARIE GALLAGHER,
Belfast 17
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0345
Published Date: 01-Sep-98
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