Author: Liam Mcdonald

38 years ago a civil rights march was held in Derry. A few thousand people were taking part, to highlight the injustice of the sysem there, where protestant loyalists held power and basic democratic human rights were being withheld from the nationalist catholic population. This power was allowed with the cooperation of the British government. The march was fired on by a crack parachute regiment, live rounds fired at unarmed demonstrators, 14 killed. The lies and cover ups, by the said government, that followed were remarkable. Also it served to swell the ranks of the IRA who were calling for armed resistance. In the 30 years that followed one atrocity led to another, blood was spilled on both sides. The downward spiral into violence was appalling.

Now, 38 years later, in a climate where peace has been restored, a report comes out which reveals the truth of what happened on that fateful day and the prime minister of the British Government stands in the house of commons and says sorry to the relatives of the dead who were killed by “an unjustfied and unjustifiable act”. A victory for truth.

In his day Jesus was none too pleased with the way the pharisees were running the religious institutions. How would he see the modern day Pharisees, the Pope, his cardinals and bishops and their running of a church built on his name. I would hazard a guess and say “really angry”. The way they have tried to protect the institution, by covering up the continuing abuse of children by priests of that very church, is criminal. He saw children as close to perfect “Unless you be like little children”. The church is so far removed from his message and philosophy that it now deserves to be no more.

What more can be said or felt regarding this catastrophic event that so cruelly killed and maimed so many unfortunate human beings. Faith in a loving and caring God is severely tested. What is clear is that we as inhabitants of this planet are at the mercy of the very forces that continue to shape it. Our power and control is non existent. But our care and compassion for our fellow man is very evident and the response of the rest of the world has been compelling. This poorest of nations with a rich history of slave revolt, exploitation and interference from many foreign powers, has been devastated by one of the worst natural disasters of modern times and our global response has been encouraging. It also shows some of the rest of us, who live in relative luxury, how to appreciate what we have. It can disappear in an instant.  It is a fragile relationship, human beings and planet Earth.

On a small island on the edge of Europe about 1500 years ago, the inhabitants, warring Celtic tribes with some sense of druidic mysticism, embraced a new philosophy. Its spirit spoke of love and care and looking out for one another. The Irish became a Christian nation, and Christianity became Irish. A culture of learning, art and enlightenment followed, and for 500 years this culture thrived.

Meanwhile in another part of the world Christianity was being incorporated into the Roman Empire and a new super power was born. These two versions of the same philosophy were on a collision course, one a practice in simplicity and learning, the other a practice in accumulation of power and wealth. With the collusion of mighty Kings the Celtic mystical way was crushed and the Roman version ruled. The land was seized and occupied.

Eight hundred years later “liberty” was finally gained from the secular forces but the might of Rome took an even firmer hold on the embryonic state. From the Eucharistic congress of 1932 the church of Rome took a stranglehold grip of our young nation and abused that power to such an extent that sexual and physical abuse was common place and the Church itself covered up these evils. Latterly we embraced free market capitalist materialism and behaved like kids rampant in a sweet shop. The bubbles have burst.
We are now in a vacuum.Maybe we can learn a lesson from these mistakes and rediscover our true spirit, a wise and simple understanding of our humanity. We have seen our freedom usurped by power and control, by a greed that sees short term profit as the holy grail. We were close before, where people mattered, where we genuinely cared for each other. True freedom comes from loving the Good.

Time to stop and stare. What is this life if full of care, We have no time to stand and stare, No time to stand beneath the boughs, And stare as long as sheep and cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night. No time to turn at Beauty’s glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can, Enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this, if full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. William Henry Davies 1871-1940. A poem a lot of us would have heard at some point, its just the whole world is in such a hurry, booming and busting, and controlling and fixing, we never stop to consider what we have.

An exert from Henry George’s Progress and Poverty.” Imagine a vast country with no occupants. Settlers begin to arrive in the country. One family comes to a very large valley and settles down there. They were farmers and could grow food for thousands, but not being builders they lived in a shack. Their clothes are crude and some die from disease but they eat like kings. Another family arrives and they are builders and can build houses for thousands. So they say we will build houses for all if you give us of your surplus food. Now both families live in excellent houses, eat like kings but they dress badly and some die of disease. But soon a maker of clothes arrives and dresses all well and has a house and food supplied by the others. A doctor and his family arrives and they are provided with food, a house and clothing. He cares for the health of the others and so everyone prospers. As each new settler arrives, they give of the abundance of their speciality and the lives of all are enriched.” This may be a simple model but it shows the basis of true progress is cooperation, not the crazy competitive economic model that is the only one on offer to us at this moment in time. The only people that benefit from the present system are the capitalists that control this narrow view of our human situation.

In the words of the Bard, and he did have a particular gift in that department, from Hamlet, ” that noble and most sovereign reason” and later he expands ” what is a man if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more! Sure he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not that capability and godlike reason, To fust in us unused.” Reason, the faculty of mind which is used to know what is true and right. Its still very much fusting away, besides exploiting the need for food and shelter and “cute hoor” trading in gold, diamonds and a few barrels of fossil fuel, what else has reason done for us. Maybe, seeing that it is a common trait, it is time to collectively use it and direct it to a higher level to insure its proper use.

The finishing line is in sight. For as far back as we can see we have been involved in a titanic struggle for existence, for control of the land and it has been a very competitive race, survival of the fittest, and countless millions losing out. We have been clinging to this little rock, the third from the sun, fighting over every square inch, driven by primordial forces that are at the core of our evolution. So where are we now? Time for the human being to flourish. We have been so involved in survival that human nature is programmed for selfishness. Is there another program that we can tune into? We have been made aware of things like wisdom, love and co-operation. Are these qualities innate in our true nature? This is a fundamental question to where we are now and for finding our way. We could issue in a global golden age, where co-operation is the key in “economics”, where appreciation of our place ends the struggle and allows our true nature to evolve.

One of the cornerstones of Democracy is government for the common good. What has been happening in the world of late is a sham of democracy being used as a tool for free market capitalism to develop and in its wake the erosion of the common good.

One of the very obvious effects of this economic crisis is the way we are all linked together. All government leaders are avoiding responsibility by pointing to the fact that this is global. The market is bigger than the individual nation and given free rein, with the “aim” of creating wealth, it has worked for the few, who do not consider the common good and have become extremely rich.

In all this chaos the glimpse of togetherness and in that, our shared humanity and goodness has been seen by some. This is our time, where common sense sees the common good and from that view true democracy can flourish and prosper and grow. Real “wealth” for all.

Just listening to a prophetic song from a visionary singer/songwriter who wrote this way back in 1963 by Mr Bob Dylan, “Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam, And admit that the waters around you have grown, And accept it that soon, You’ll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you is worth savin’, Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone, For the times they are a-changin’. Prophecy can take some time to come about, its happening.