A TIME FOR MOURNING
A TIME FOR MOURNING
Tears have flowed freely in Omagh and surrounding districts in the short few days since the worst atrocity ever in the last 30 years of violence here was visited on the town on Saturday.
In the years ahead, that day will be used as a marker by which we will gauge our lives. For us all our existence will be measured in terms of things which happened either before or after this traumatic event.
The sheer scale of the appalling human tragedy which unfolded on the Feast of the Assumption still beggars belief within a community where hardly a family has been left untouched by its ferocity.
Indeed throughout the world the events which took place in Omagh have elicited a wave of sympathy, regret and condemnation as the sheer brutality and senselessness of the cowardly bomb attack which has left 28 people dead and some 200 injured began to hit home.
The unseen malignant hand which reached out and touched so many lives has seemingly left little room for hope, and has brought with it only an overwhelming sense of sorrow. Those who witnessed the awful scenes at Market Street on Saturday afternoon and the equally traumatic aftermath which followed at local hospitals, cannot fail to have been touched, angered and tempted towards despair. Attempts to stem the tide of grief which has been evoked amongst the bereaved, seem at this stage to be almost futile. No words can describe the indescribable. No word of comfort, no matter how heartfelt, can console the inconsolable, yet we must continue to try and do so. To do otherwise would be an abdication of our responsibilities to those that have suffered so much. They cannot be left in any doubt that they are constantly in our hearts and in our prayers. They cannot be left in any doubt that their loss is our loss, their pain is our pain.
More than anything else however, they must be given time to grieve.
For the moment thoughts of the future, of peace processes and wider implications of Saturday's outrage are totally irrelevant.
The human tragedy is such that it requires all our concentration to cope with the simple process of trying to come through this ordeal together. The wider world can move on if it must, and that is to be understood, but for the savaged communities in and around Omagh, the process of healing will be a much more gradual one.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the funerals began with one family alone burying a grandmother, her daughter , her grandchild and two unborn children in the space of two days. From Buncrana to Beragh, from Drumquin to Dunamanagh and as far away as Spain, the families of the dead have or will have to face the final parting from their loved ones. Such is the legacy left to us by those who planted this bomb.
Healing and hope however must come eventually. Their seeds have been planted already even within the depths of the awful events of last weekend.
The community which was assaulted as one, has already shown that it intends to face the future as one.
The heroic efforts of the Emergency services and members of the public to cope with the unprecedented scale of the atrocity which faced them, was indicative of this.
Equally the knowledge that the suffering inflicted by this horrible act knew no boundaries of age class or creed, has been reflected in a certainty that all are united in their determination that they will move forward as one to face as best they can whatever the future may hold. This was demonstrated by the huge numbers who turned out for a special vigil in Drumragh carpark just yards from where Saturday's massacre occurred.
Truly the Omagh bomb left in its wake untold suffering, horror and sadness, but the evil which prompted it must not be allowed to have its way. The temptation towards despair no matter how understandable cannot be allowed to extinguish the hope that has been growing in so many hearts in recent months.
To those who have suffered most directly, we offer our sincerest sympathy and in the pages that follow we have tried to convey some sense of the terrible events that have overtaken us. May God grant peace to the souls of all those who have died and provide consolation and strength to those that have been injured and bereaved. Our prayers are with them all.
Tears have flowed freely in Omagh and surrounding districts in the short few days since the worst atrocity ever in the last 30 years of violence here was visited on the town on Saturday.
In the years ahead, that day will be used as a marker by which we will gauge our lives. For us all our existence will be measured in terms of things which happened either before or after this traumatic event.
The sheer scale of the appalling human tragedy which unfolded on the Feast of the Assumption still beggars belief within a community where hardly a family has been left untouched by its ferocity.
Indeed throughout the world the events which took place in Omagh have elicited a wave of sympathy, regret and condemnation as the sheer brutality and senselessness of the cowardly bomb attack which has left 28 people dead and some 200 injured began to hit home.
The unseen malignant hand which reached out and touched so many lives has seemingly left little room for hope, and has brought with it only an overwhelming sense of sorrow. Those who witnessed the awful scenes at Market Street on Saturday afternoon and the equally traumatic aftermath which followed at local hospitals, cannot fail to have been touched, angered and tempted towards despair. Attempts to stem the tide of grief which has been evoked amongst the bereaved, seem at this stage to be almost futile. No words can describe the indescribable. No word of comfort, no matter how heartfelt, can console the inconsolable, yet we must continue to try and do so. To do otherwise would be an abdication of our responsibilities to those that have suffered so much. They cannot be left in any doubt that they are constantly in our hearts and in our prayers. They cannot be left in any doubt that their loss is our loss, their pain is our pain.
More than anything else however, they must be given time to grieve.
For the moment thoughts of the future, of peace processes and wider implications of Saturday's outrage are totally irrelevant.
The human tragedy is such that it requires all our concentration to cope with the simple process of trying to come through this ordeal together. The wider world can move on if it must, and that is to be understood, but for the savaged communities in and around Omagh, the process of healing will be a much more gradual one.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the funerals began with one family alone burying a grandmother, her daughter , her grandchild and two unborn children in the space of two days. From Buncrana to Beragh, from Drumquin to Dunamanagh and as far away as Spain, the families of the dead have or will have to face the final parting from their loved ones. Such is the legacy left to us by those who planted this bomb.
Healing and hope however must come eventually. Their seeds have been planted already even within the depths of the awful events of last weekend.
The community which was assaulted as one, has already shown that it intends to face the future as one.
The heroic efforts of the Emergency services and members of the public to cope with the unprecedented scale of the atrocity which faced them, was indicative of this.
Equally the knowledge that the suffering inflicted by this horrible act knew no boundaries of age class or creed, has been reflected in a certainty that all are united in their determination that they will move forward as one to face as best they can whatever the future may hold. This was demonstrated by the huge numbers who turned out for a special vigil in Drumragh carpark just yards from where Saturday's massacre occurred.
Truly the Omagh bomb left in its wake untold suffering, horror and sadness, but the evil which prompted it must not be allowed to have its way. The temptation towards despair no matter how understandable cannot be allowed to extinguish the hope that has been growing in so many hearts in recent months.
To those who have suffered most directly, we offer our sincerest sympathy and in the pages that follow we have tried to convey some sense of the terrible events that have overtaken us. May God grant peace to the souls of all those who have died and provide consolation and strength to those that have been injured and bereaved. Our prayers are with them all.
Further Information
Publisher: DERRY PEOPLE DONEGAL NEWS
Ref: DPDN/013
Published Date: 21-Aug-98
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