Every now and then, those of us who feel deprived without our regular news infusion, however gloomy, are treated to a pleasant surprise. As, for instance, the way the Amish killings were rapidly followed by stories of Amish forgiveness. In fact, as one who often writes about forgiveness, I am much encouraged by the number of forgiveness stories I come across these days and even stories of conflicts ending.
I sat next to a lady in a plane and when she learned I was a journalist, she said, ‘Oh, I haven’t subscribed to a newspaper in months and I feel so much better. It’s like when I gave up smoking.’
Certainly, if we don’t cancel our subscriptions or turn off the TV we have to learn how to live peacefully with negative headlines and stories. And it is no wonder that many follow the lady’s prescription.
Every now and then, those of us who feel deprived without our regular news infusion, however gloomy, are treated to a pleasant surprise. As, for instance, the way the Amish killings were rapidly followed by stories of Amish forgiveness. In fact, as one who often writes about forgiveness, I am much encouraged by the number of forgiveness stories I come across these days and even stories of conflicts ending.
I have just attended a lecture by one of the world’s top writers on climate change, Geoffrey Lean. He painted an alarming picture of the reality of the changes that are going to affect all life on the planet. But I came away from the lecture buoyed with hope because while not underplaying the threat he informed us that it was producing incredible advances in attitude and technology that were helping overcome the dangers. He showed us what the ordinary person could do to make a difference.
When one reads the news of Darfur or Lebanon or Zimbabwe or Israel and Palestine it is also important to keep in mind the larger perspective. Even as recently as twenty years ago none of us could have conceived of Nelson Mandela becoming a free man and prime minister of South Africa, nor of the Berlin Wall coming down and the Soviet Union imploding. Just as a generation before. our parents would not have thought of France and Germany being not only in a European union but also friends. And twenty years ago none of us could have expected the progress towards peace we are seeing in Northern Ireland which I touched on two months ago.
I return to that part of the world again this month because, even the historic events of March have been topped by April and May. I wrote then of the historic rugby match between England and Ireland on ‘the day hatred went missing’ and the hangover of history ‘was put to bed’. I wrote too of the complete reversal of policy by Sinn Fein with regard to support for the police and justice service. Now we have been witness to the startling sight of the venerable curmudgeon Rev Ian Paisley agreeing to share power with Sinn Fein in the government of Northern Ireland. Though he stopped short of a handshake for the camera.
Just as one never expected Sinn Fein to recognize the police, one would never have predicted that stepping stone on the road to peace taken two months later. The Times of London underlined its significance with the main front-page headline, ‘Old enemies agree to share the future’, and with another headline inside, ‘No time for handshakes but this was history in the making.’
The paper’s story began, ‘The words that nobody thought they would ever hear from the mouth of the Rev Ian Paisley came at 12 minutes past noon. “We have agreed with Sinn Fein.” Paisley, the leader of the Protestant Democratic Unionists, who had sworn ‘never, never, never’, to share power with Sinn Fein had reversed a 40-year policy of ‘never sitting down with terrorists’. He said, ‘We must not allow our justified loathing of the horrors and tragedies of the past to become a barrier to creating a better and more stable future. In looking to that future we must never forget those who have suffered during the dark period from which we are, please God, emerging.’
A few weeks later, after the formal acceptance of power by Ian Paisley as First Minister and Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, The Times editorialised, ‘The past cannot be allowed to become a ball-and-chain on the future. So Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness were each wise to pay tribute to those who have suffered – and to conclude that the proper memorial is their cooperation.’ The headline in The Independent in London was ‘The miracle of Belfast’ and the Irish Independent ‘Happy are the peacemakers’.
Being Irish as well as English I particularly rejoice at the news and as a Christian it is a great relief to me that Northern Ireland, will no longer be held up as a reproach because of the way Christians fight each other and may soon have a new role. Indeed, an Irish nationalist, Jim Lynn, a Roman Catholic brought up in the rough Falls Road area of Belfast speaking in London, talked of what England and Ireland could now do together. He spoke along with a Protestant from the North, Dr Roddy Evans, and they described some of the extraordinary events that led up to political progress including Catholics and Protestants together holding Bible studies at the Clonard Redemptorist Monastery in Belfast which has been described as ‘the cradle of the peace process’. They paid tribute to the role of the Irish and British prime ministers and of President Clinton and Senator George Mitchell. Lynn said, ‘It is my hope that what we have experienced will be used in the world, including in the Middle East.’
So my message to that lady today would be: Keep an ever hopeful perspective, resubscribe and pray.