WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE THEY?
Just what kind of people are they?
By Lindy McDowell
WHAT kind of people are they in Ballymoney?
Don't they have any heart? Are they so devoid of human emotion and pity that even the murder in their midst of three little brothers fails to move them? And don't they care about what happened in Omagh? Don't they want to do something, anything, that might help?
This week a concert was to have been held in Ballymoney to raise funds for the families of the Quinn brothers and those who died in Omagh.
Less than a dozen people turned up.
The show was abandoned. The prizes which were to have been raffled were handed back. The promoter is left devastated. And Ballymoney ends up with yet another black mark against its name.
But is this deserved?
I know a lot of people from up around the Ballymoney area and they are good and decent and honourable.
And even if I'd never met these people, I'd still find it difficult to subscribe to the theory that one town, or more precisely the people in it, could be written off as universally and uniformly "bad."
So going on the assumption that the people of Ballymoney are as kindly and open hearted as the people of the next town in Northern Ireland, how can it have happened that this week they shunned an opportunity to help the victims of violence?
There are obvious practical 'excuses' that spring to mind.
Maybe people just didn't know the concert was taking place. But the promoter is a man who knows his stuff. He's organised many successful concerts before and insists there was plenty of publicity locally about this one.
Maybe people just didn't like the line up of artists taking part.
But these are all successful local acts who've had no difficulty pulling in crowds in the past. And besides people do generally make an effort to support charitable events in their own area even if the performers aren't all playing their kind of music.
So what happened in Ballymoney?
Did it simply come down to the fact that, to put it brutally, some of the money raised was to go to the Quinn family?
Is there a feeling in the town that the murder of three children is something best forgotten?
Overshadowed as it was by the terrible atrocity that was the Omagh bombing, the gruesome killing of those three little brothers still remains among the very worst outrages of the past 30 years of the Troubles.
And I do not believe for one second that any amount of money would ever make up for their loss.
I do believe, though, that it would be a comfort to the children's mother, their little brother, their family, their neighbours and their friends that they were at the very least remembered.
Any mother who has ever borne a child will recognise the full enormity of what it must be like to lose a child.
Chrissy Quinn lost three children in circumstances beyond even the worst imaginings of any of us.
Surely there are mothers, fathers in Ballymoney still touched by her plight?
And surely there are people in Ballymoney who, at the very least, are concerned about how the town they love is perceived by the rest of the world?
In a week in which the concept of remembrance has such painful significance, all of us should reassess how we have remembered the victims, all the victims, of the Troubles.
In a way the Omagh fund has become the focus for those who want to express sympathy and to offer help. But there have been many other atrocities, many, many others whose lives have been torn apart..
Until the Government decides on some central initiative through which that great loss can be acknowledged and those who need it, offered practical help, it falls to the local community to provide support.
While none of us can ever assuage the pain of the families of the victims', we can pledge that their suffering will not be forgotten.
That we will remember them.
By Lindy McDowell
WHAT kind of people are they in Ballymoney?
Don't they have any heart? Are they so devoid of human emotion and pity that even the murder in their midst of three little brothers fails to move them? And don't they care about what happened in Omagh? Don't they want to do something, anything, that might help?
This week a concert was to have been held in Ballymoney to raise funds for the families of the Quinn brothers and those who died in Omagh.
Less than a dozen people turned up.
The show was abandoned. The prizes which were to have been raffled were handed back. The promoter is left devastated. And Ballymoney ends up with yet another black mark against its name.
But is this deserved?
I know a lot of people from up around the Ballymoney area and they are good and decent and honourable.
And even if I'd never met these people, I'd still find it difficult to subscribe to the theory that one town, or more precisely the people in it, could be written off as universally and uniformly "bad."
So going on the assumption that the people of Ballymoney are as kindly and open hearted as the people of the next town in Northern Ireland, how can it have happened that this week they shunned an opportunity to help the victims of violence?
There are obvious practical 'excuses' that spring to mind.
Maybe people just didn't know the concert was taking place. But the promoter is a man who knows his stuff. He's organised many successful concerts before and insists there was plenty of publicity locally about this one.
Maybe people just didn't like the line up of artists taking part.
But these are all successful local acts who've had no difficulty pulling in crowds in the past. And besides people do generally make an effort to support charitable events in their own area even if the performers aren't all playing their kind of music.
So what happened in Ballymoney?
Did it simply come down to the fact that, to put it brutally, some of the money raised was to go to the Quinn family?
Is there a feeling in the town that the murder of three children is something best forgotten?
Overshadowed as it was by the terrible atrocity that was the Omagh bombing, the gruesome killing of those three little brothers still remains among the very worst outrages of the past 30 years of the Troubles.
And I do not believe for one second that any amount of money would ever make up for their loss.
I do believe, though, that it would be a comfort to the children's mother, their little brother, their family, their neighbours and their friends that they were at the very least remembered.
Any mother who has ever borne a child will recognise the full enormity of what it must be like to lose a child.
Chrissy Quinn lost three children in circumstances beyond even the worst imaginings of any of us.
Surely there are mothers, fathers in Ballymoney still touched by her plight?
And surely there are people in Ballymoney who, at the very least, are concerned about how the town they love is perceived by the rest of the world?
In a week in which the concept of remembrance has such painful significance, all of us should reassess how we have remembered the victims, all the victims, of the Troubles.
In a way the Omagh fund has become the focus for those who want to express sympathy and to offer help. But there have been many other atrocities, many, many others whose lives have been torn apart..
Until the Government decides on some central initiative through which that great loss can be acknowledged and those who need it, offered practical help, it falls to the local community to provide support.
While none of us can ever assuage the pain of the families of the victims', we can pledge that their suffering will not be forgotten.
That we will remember them.
Further Information
Publisher: BELFAST TELEGRAPH
Ref: BT/0496
Published Date: 13-Nov-98
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