Bitterness and hatred is pathetically unproductive

A sense of helplessness and hopelessness has taken hold of people who feel thwarted at every turn.

For things to change for the better we all must change. None of us should forever cling to a limited, outdated view of another person, because everyone changes and grows over time.

So we must constantly strive to see people, not as they once were, but as they now are.

After all ‘every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.’

It is perplexing, especially in the most religious part of the United Kingdom, that both traditions have still not learned to live in harmony.

Somewhere along the way the theory has fallen out of step with the practice and we’re all the poorer for it.

If peace is to be the final destination we will have to resist speaking badly of one another.

We will also have to commit to working alongside those with whom we may have difficulty and may not especially like.

More than ever new energy is needed for peace-building measures that will progressively remove the misery from all that went before, permit a generous measure of healing to reach out to all who were bereaved, injured and traumatised during ‘The Troubles’ and reduce the risk of Northern Ireland ever relapsing into conflict.

Why spend another day pursuing ways of living that are so pathetically unproductive? Harbouring bitterness or resentment is such a waste of time.

Our apathy, complacency and prevailing paralysis simply doesn’t make sense. Walls of resistance can fall and rivers of compassion flow if like minded people band together.

People who will learn to live and grow as part of the solution, not part of the problem.

People who will be agents of healing, not carriers of disease. People who, by their daily practice, will seek to be the change they wish to see.

Having faith in each others purposes, hope in each others future and charity towards each others shortcomings will undeniably enable us to build bridges that will help us live in better relationships than we have hitherto managed to do.

So, we must consciously dedicate ourselves to what the ancient Greeks wrote long ago, namely, ‘to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.’

Now is the time and we are the people. By co-operating with each other we will build a better and a brighter future for everyone.