Give Peace a Chance?

There's an old saying: "A fool throws a stone into the sea and a hundred wise men cannot make it dry." To me that means it's so much easier to mess things up than it is to set things right. Witness recent events in Northern Ireland.

Well, John Burns writes in the Sunday New York Times that maybe the terrorists of the REAL IRA who want to derail the peace process may not be succeeding. Even old enemies want peace.

But as formerly sworn enemies filed into a provincial church on Friday to mourn as one, the funeral of the slain policeman provided the latest and most powerful demonstration of the ways in which the province’s people and its leaders have united against a return to the violence that racked Northern Ireland for 30 years.

Rallies that drew thousands to silent vigils this week in Belfast and other major towns across the north, and dozens of interviews across the province, suggested that the old antagonists — Roman Catholics and Protestants, nationalists seeking a united Ireland and Unionists committed to keeping Ulster a part of Britain — remain determined to settle their future in peace.

Sometimes it takes more guts to not react to violence with violence.

Be strong, Northern Ireland. Resist violence. Choose peace.