TOWN MUST BE STRONG AND OVERCOME TRAGEDY
Town must be strong and overcome tragedy
By Denzil McDaniel
AS I sat and watched the television coverage of the Omagh bomb over the weekend, my mind was continually drawn back to events in my home town of Enniskillen 11 years ago.
The parallels of horror were uncanny; a small market town in which a bomb had exploded among hundreds of innocent civilians. Many of them were killed and maimed.
We even had the amateur video footage capturing the confusion and pain.
The only major difference was the scale of the atrocity.
In the Remembrance Sunday bombing in Enniskillen in 1987, 11 people were killed and 63 injured in a tragedy which shocked and shook everyone in Ireland and across the world.
So awful were those dark days in Enniskillen that I never thought I would see an event similar, but even worse in terms of the numbers killed and injured.
Yet here it was happening just 26 miles down the road to our Tyrone neighbours.
On Sunday morning, Omagh woke up to the cold reality of the enormity of what had happened and the unrelenting grief that Enniskillen
experienced on the morning after.
It was a sunny carnival day in Omagh on Saturday.
On Sunday, the rains came and mingled the tears of the townspeople who were not quite sure what had hit their beloved town. They were sad and bemused, with almost an air of "somebody tell us that this is not true".
In both towns, in such small communities everybody knew somebody who had been killed or injured and locals feel deeply for their neighbours who are struggling to come to terms with their intense pain.
Initially, this is a whole community in grief. A whole people shocked and traumatised.
Political questions and the wider significance are matters for another day; for now people come together in a way which demonstrates what a wonderful thing the human spirit is. When it comes to such a crisis, the people in the thick of it all are all one and any differences there might be in Northern Ireland pale into a smidgen of significance.
This happened in Enniskillen and as the stories of rescue attempts in Omagh emerged, it became clear that those injured and bereaved set an example of dignity and courage to the rest of us.
So far, in the few days following the Omagh massacre of innocents, the comparisons with Enniskillen are remarkable.
If the experiences continue, then tragically I have to say that there are many people and families in Omagh who will never get over this. What they will have to do is to learn to live with their pain.
Last year, on the 10th anniversary of the Enniskillen bombing, I spoke to many of the families bereaved and many of those injured.
I found that some had coped better than others.
For one woman, the grief was still palpable even after 10 years. But among those who had come to terms with their situation still found life hard.
Such is the legacy that the bomber leaves behind.
For others, the physical pain is still there.
I spoke to Enniskillen victims who are, literally, still suffering pain in various parts of their body. One man, former Enniskillen High School principal, Ronnie Hill has been lying in a coma for almost 11 years.
In Omagh, it seems that many people have tragically lost limbs and others have serious injuries which will handicap them for the rest of their days.
I feel it is important in the coming days that the people of Omagh are able to give vent to their feelings.
Many have expressed their grief and others are just numb. Some are angry, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as it is a righteous anger and not a vengeance which would not be a fitting tribute to those who have shown such an example.
The next few weeks are crucial. The hearts of many will be heavy as funeral after funeral takes place; sometimes double funerals, sometimes the sight of three coffins from the same family.
Two weeks after Enniskillen, the Remembrance Sunday ceremony was re-arranged and after a fortnight of the burden of grief being on the whole
community's shoulders the event acted as a catharsis; almost purging our collective guilt and sorrow.
A religious service is being planned in Omagh and, this being held in a town which has the symbolism of a bridge over two rivers coming together, will give the people the opportunity to support each other and learn to live again.
In the coming months, they will find it hard in Omagh. The world is focussing on them now; political and church leaders are calling to show their solidarity.
But soon that will be gone and Omagh will face the future on its own.
Enniskillen was in the eye of the storm and survived.
There is one other difference between what happened in Omagh and Enniskillen, and that is the context in which the respective events happened.
In 1987, as awful as Enniskillen was, it was one of a series of violent events in a province gripped by the fist of terror.
Now, the Omagh bombing comes as an almost grotesque misfit amid the hopes for peace.
And as terrible as it is, as low as people feel and as much as the merchants of doom will soon begin to make capital of it, we must not lose hope. If we do not have hope, we have nothing.
And although many of the poor people suffering in Omagh today may find this of little consolation, the example of Enniskillen's journey over these past 11 years proves that the spirit of our good people will triumph over evil.
Denzil McDaniel is author of Enniskillen; the Remembrance Sunday bombing (published by Wolfhound Press last November on the 10th
anniversary of the attack) and is editor of the Enniskillen-based Impartial Reporter
By Denzil McDaniel
AS I sat and watched the television coverage of the Omagh bomb over the weekend, my mind was continually drawn back to events in my home town of Enniskillen 11 years ago.
The parallels of horror were uncanny; a small market town in which a bomb had exploded among hundreds of innocent civilians. Many of them were killed and maimed.
We even had the amateur video footage capturing the confusion and pain.
The only major difference was the scale of the atrocity.
In the Remembrance Sunday bombing in Enniskillen in 1987, 11 people were killed and 63 injured in a tragedy which shocked and shook everyone in Ireland and across the world.
So awful were those dark days in Enniskillen that I never thought I would see an event similar, but even worse in terms of the numbers killed and injured.
Yet here it was happening just 26 miles down the road to our Tyrone neighbours.
On Sunday morning, Omagh woke up to the cold reality of the enormity of what had happened and the unrelenting grief that Enniskillen
experienced on the morning after.
It was a sunny carnival day in Omagh on Saturday.
On Sunday, the rains came and mingled the tears of the townspeople who were not quite sure what had hit their beloved town. They were sad and bemused, with almost an air of "somebody tell us that this is not true".
In both towns, in such small communities everybody knew somebody who had been killed or injured and locals feel deeply for their neighbours who are struggling to come to terms with their intense pain.
Initially, this is a whole community in grief. A whole people shocked and traumatised.
Political questions and the wider significance are matters for another day; for now people come together in a way which demonstrates what a wonderful thing the human spirit is. When it comes to such a crisis, the people in the thick of it all are all one and any differences there might be in Northern Ireland pale into a smidgen of significance.
This happened in Enniskillen and as the stories of rescue attempts in Omagh emerged, it became clear that those injured and bereaved set an example of dignity and courage to the rest of us.
So far, in the few days following the Omagh massacre of innocents, the comparisons with Enniskillen are remarkable.
If the experiences continue, then tragically I have to say that there are many people and families in Omagh who will never get over this. What they will have to do is to learn to live with their pain.
Last year, on the 10th anniversary of the Enniskillen bombing, I spoke to many of the families bereaved and many of those injured.
I found that some had coped better than others.
For one woman, the grief was still palpable even after 10 years. But among those who had come to terms with their situation still found life hard.
Such is the legacy that the bomber leaves behind.
For others, the physical pain is still there.
I spoke to Enniskillen victims who are, literally, still suffering pain in various parts of their body. One man, former Enniskillen High School principal, Ronnie Hill has been lying in a coma for almost 11 years.
In Omagh, it seems that many people have tragically lost limbs and others have serious injuries which will handicap them for the rest of their days.
I feel it is important in the coming days that the people of Omagh are able to give vent to their feelings.
Many have expressed their grief and others are just numb. Some are angry, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as it is a righteous anger and not a vengeance which would not be a fitting tribute to those who have shown such an example.
The next few weeks are crucial. The hearts of many will be heavy as funeral after funeral takes place; sometimes double funerals, sometimes the sight of three coffins from the same family.
Two weeks after Enniskillen, the Remembrance Sunday ceremony was re-arranged and after a fortnight of the burden of grief being on the whole
community's shoulders the event acted as a catharsis; almost purging our collective guilt and sorrow.
A religious service is being planned in Omagh and, this being held in a town which has the symbolism of a bridge over two rivers coming together, will give the people the opportunity to support each other and learn to live again.
In the coming months, they will find it hard in Omagh. The world is focussing on them now; political and church leaders are calling to show their solidarity.
But soon that will be gone and Omagh will face the future on its own.
Enniskillen was in the eye of the storm and survived.
There is one other difference between what happened in Omagh and Enniskillen, and that is the context in which the respective events happened.
In 1987, as awful as Enniskillen was, it was one of a series of violent events in a province gripped by the fist of terror.
Now, the Omagh bombing comes as an almost grotesque misfit amid the hopes for peace.
And as terrible as it is, as low as people feel and as much as the merchants of doom will soon begin to make capital of it, we must not lose hope. If we do not have hope, we have nothing.
And although many of the poor people suffering in Omagh today may find this of little consolation, the example of Enniskillen's journey over these past 11 years proves that the spirit of our good people will triumph over evil.
Denzil McDaniel is author of Enniskillen; the Remembrance Sunday bombing (published by Wolfhound Press last November on the 10th
anniversary of the attack) and is editor of the Enniskillen-based Impartial Reporter
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0682
Published Date: 18-Aug-98
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