OMAGH REMEMBERS
AUGUST 15, 1998
OMAGH REMEMBERS
Had those who carried out the Omagh bomb atrocity on August 15, 1998, sat down and planned a list of victims, they could not have come up with such a representative demographic spectrum of dead and seriously injured. The victims on that terrible day were young and old - unborn infants to grandparents; they were Catholic and Protestant, and their politics ranged from republican to loyalist, covering all points between; they were Irish, British and Spanish; they were shopworkers and shoppers caught in unspeakable horror.
What they all shared is that they were innocent victims of insanity brought to a quiet town on a summer Saturday in the boot of a stolen car.
Nobody can claim the Omagh bomb as an atrocity visited on them alone, as an act of violence perpetrated against their section of the community. Nobody can point the finger at their neighbour and say, 'You did this to us,' or, 'We alone suffered.' For, unlike any other single atrocity of the conflict here, the Omagh bomb was visited recklessly on all. It was the people of the town of Omagh, and those who chose to be there that day, who took the brunt of a brutal and senseless attack on an unspecified target.
For that reason, the Omagh bomb deserves to be remembered as a cataclysmic event that provided the brutally shocking full-point to a catalogue of atrocity stretching back over three decades.
For those who survived and the community we share, ten years have gone by and life has gone on. For some, the atrocity lives on in daily grief and agony; for others it recedes into the recesses of memory where it rightly belongs. The town has grown and prospered and there have even been occasions for joy and celebration.
This week, we do not celebrate an event that catapulted Omagh to world prominence; we celebrate instead the resilience and strength of a community that continues to recover and thrive. In the dignity of mourning, we offer respect to those who have gone, solace and comfort to those who suffer still and hope and faith to those who look forward to the future.
OMAGH REMEMBERS
Had those who carried out the Omagh bomb atrocity on August 15, 1998, sat down and planned a list of victims, they could not have come up with such a representative demographic spectrum of dead and seriously injured. The victims on that terrible day were young and old - unborn infants to grandparents; they were Catholic and Protestant, and their politics ranged from republican to loyalist, covering all points between; they were Irish, British and Spanish; they were shopworkers and shoppers caught in unspeakable horror.
What they all shared is that they were innocent victims of insanity brought to a quiet town on a summer Saturday in the boot of a stolen car.
Nobody can claim the Omagh bomb as an atrocity visited on them alone, as an act of violence perpetrated against their section of the community. Nobody can point the finger at their neighbour and say, 'You did this to us,' or, 'We alone suffered.' For, unlike any other single atrocity of the conflict here, the Omagh bomb was visited recklessly on all. It was the people of the town of Omagh, and those who chose to be there that day, who took the brunt of a brutal and senseless attack on an unspecified target.
For that reason, the Omagh bomb deserves to be remembered as a cataclysmic event that provided the brutally shocking full-point to a catalogue of atrocity stretching back over three decades.
For those who survived and the community we share, ten years have gone by and life has gone on. For some, the atrocity lives on in daily grief and agony; for others it recedes into the recesses of memory where it rightly belongs. The town has grown and prospered and there have even been occasions for joy and celebration.
This week, we do not celebrate an event that catapulted Omagh to world prominence; we celebrate instead the resilience and strength of a community that continues to recover and thrive. In the dignity of mourning, we offer respect to those who have gone, solace and comfort to those who suffer still and hope and faith to those who look forward to the future.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH10An/26
Published Date: 14-Aug-08
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