WE REMEMBER
We remember
By Lindy McDowell
FLOWERS for remembrance clasped in the hands of a child. At the end of this blackest week in Northern Ireland's history, they are a poignant symbol of the shared sorrow of all our people. And of the suffering of the innocent.
Last Saturday, at ten minutes past three, as children gathered for a carnival and mothers shopped for school uniforms, a 500lb car bomb ripped out the very heart from Omagh town.
Twenty eight people were killed, more than 200 were injured and, in the next few minutes of unspeakable horror, countless lives were torn apart for ever.
Today, we remember them. In every city and in every town. In every village and in every townland. In every home and in every heart.
For this was a tragedy that touched all communities in Northern Ireland. It shattered homes from Donegal to Spain. It hurt us all.
Protestant and Catholic, we wept together, we mourned together, we shared the same pain.
That so many of those who were killed and injured were children and young people, compounded our grief.
Today we remember them all. Those smiling, beautiful children in all their promise, in all their innocence.
We remember the little girl who died alongside her mother and her granny, and the unborn sisters she never knew.
We remember that other little girl, that pretty, precious little child who would have been a flowergirl. And her mother so terribly injured she couldn't be told her baby was dead.
We remember the three little boys laid side by side in a graveyard in Buncrana. And the little boy from Spain who was their friend.
We remember the two young girls, working for Oxfam, wanting to make the world a better place for others.
We remember every one of the teenagers and the young people and the contribution they made and the hopes they embodied.
We remember the father and son who died and the mother and sister who laid them to rest.
We remember the friends who worked together in the shop.
We remember the mothers, the fathers and the grandparents.
Today too, we remember all those who were injured, those who helped and comforted them, those who tried to heal their wounds.
And we remember those people throughout Northern Ireland who have suffered in other atrocities in the last 30 years, and for whom the images of this week must have reopened terrible wounds.
We remember them all. We will never forget.
By Lindy McDowell
FLOWERS for remembrance clasped in the hands of a child. At the end of this blackest week in Northern Ireland's history, they are a poignant symbol of the shared sorrow of all our people. And of the suffering of the innocent.
Last Saturday, at ten minutes past three, as children gathered for a carnival and mothers shopped for school uniforms, a 500lb car bomb ripped out the very heart from Omagh town.
Twenty eight people were killed, more than 200 were injured and, in the next few minutes of unspeakable horror, countless lives were torn apart for ever.
Today, we remember them. In every city and in every town. In every village and in every townland. In every home and in every heart.
For this was a tragedy that touched all communities in Northern Ireland. It shattered homes from Donegal to Spain. It hurt us all.
Protestant and Catholic, we wept together, we mourned together, we shared the same pain.
That so many of those who were killed and injured were children and young people, compounded our grief.
Today we remember them all. Those smiling, beautiful children in all their promise, in all their innocence.
We remember the little girl who died alongside her mother and her granny, and the unborn sisters she never knew.
We remember that other little girl, that pretty, precious little child who would have been a flowergirl. And her mother so terribly injured she couldn't be told her baby was dead.
We remember the three little boys laid side by side in a graveyard in Buncrana. And the little boy from Spain who was their friend.
We remember the two young girls, working for Oxfam, wanting to make the world a better place for others.
We remember every one of the teenagers and the young people and the contribution they made and the hopes they embodied.
We remember the father and son who died and the mother and sister who laid them to rest.
We remember the friends who worked together in the shop.
We remember the mothers, the fathers and the grandparents.
Today too, we remember all those who were injured, those who helped and comforted them, those who tried to heal their wounds.
And we remember those people throughout Northern Ireland who have suffered in other atrocities in the last 30 years, and for whom the images of this week must have reopened terrible wounds.
We remember them all. We will never forget.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0396
Published Date: 22-Aug-98
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