Happy 4th of July

Happy Independence Day to all. We are all fortunate to live in this great country and to be able to enjoy our freedoms. One of the best things about this country of ours is how we settle our differences. We do it by voting, whether it is in November, on the Senate floor, in the court house, etc. For the most part, we settle our differences in a civilize manner. Not everyone is so lucky in this world, look at the recent events in Iran. I have a friend in Ireland that posted to the forum that we both belong to about some recent events in his country. Read his words and be thankful for what we have here.

Bergof - March 10, 2009

Here we go again... three days and three deaths, two young soldiers on Saturday and last night a policeman from my home town of Banbridge. Given the impact this has had I suspect most of the world is now at least aware of these incidents but living here the impact is profound.

Having lived through more than 30 years of what is termed 'The Troubles', like so many others, we are faced once again with the prospect of people being killed for no other reason than the uniform they wear, or their religion, or the fact that they come into contact with the police or army through their work - some twenty years ago a person employed as a cleaner in a police station was blown up by a bomb placed beneath their car. Catering suppliers, building companies etc. have all had people killed in the past because they worked with the police.

Listening to the radio this morning I heard worried mothers and fathers speak of their fear for their children’s futures and asking how are they to explain why these killings took place, and should they prepare their children for future incidents. This might sound stupid but it is a serious problem, in a normal society you advise your child to approach a policeman if they fear something is wrong.... only here is the child likely to be caught in a hail of bullets intended for the policeman.

In the past people involved in something as 'normal' as a road accident have died because the emergency services fear an ambush and must satisfy themselves that the area is clear of gunmen or explosive devices before approaching.

During 'The Troubles' normal live consisted of restricted parking when in a built up areas such as towns and villages, in other words someone had to be in the car at all times it was not allowed to left unattended... bit of a pain when you went shopping. There were constant roadside checks of cars where you had to produce a license, give an account of where you had been and where you were going while allowing the police to search your car and it's contents - unpleasant especially on cold wet winter nights and you are facing your third roadside check on your drive home from work.

Normality consisted of regular 'Bomb Scares' when shops, restaurants, hotels, cinemas, theaters, in fact whole city blocks had to be evacuated to allow the army bomb squads to check for explosive devices. The alternative of course was worse, you could find yourself sitting enjoying a coffee in your favorite restaurant one minute and covered in rubble and fighting for life the next. Maybe you might not be killed just lose a limb or two!

Normality could mean a knock on your door to find a gunman facing you or, you might find a policeman bringing you the news that your father, mother, brother, sister, husband, wife or child, or a combination of some or all of these people have been killed in a shooting or bombing.

I like many others here cannot bare the thought of or our children or grandchildren having to experience this yet as these two incidents prove there are people here quite happy to see the killing resume. I, like so many others who have the misfortune to live in this shithole, am very depressed at the prospect of what could develop here and am praying that common sense prevails. Unfortunately history has taught us that in this part of the world common sense plays little or no part in events once the shooting starts - and it has very clearly started!!

Sorry to rant but this is so frustrating. To live during an economic downturn when your priority should be keeping a job and therefore a roof over your families head and food on the table is one thing but now we a staring at the prospect of trying to keep them out of the firing line....

He follow that post up with this a few days later.

Don't get me wrong for the past ten or twelve years things here have been normal, in other words no more dangerous than living in any other country or large city but this is much more sinister and the potential for it to escalate is very real. We all are expecting further attacks but the greatest fear is retaliation by loyalists. If this should happen then things are very likely to get out of control and very quickly.

The sad part is that young people, up to about 20 years old, have no real concept of how bad it was here, they see it as history which they hear from the family or read in books but are now facing the very real possibility of having to deal with what we went through. I hope that these crazy f#%@$! will see the futility of their actions and simply put away their weapons.... naive hope I suppose but the alternative will be unbearable.

Anyway, I now have a funeral to attend, the burial of a policemen.

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