There was an interesting OpEd in today's NYT about the power sharing agreement that is about to take place in Northern Ireland between Sinn Fein (pronounced "Shin Finn" and contrary to popular belief, not a part of the IRA, just the only political party that condones the actions of the IRA) and the Democratic Unionist Party (which has nothing to do with "democracy" or "democrat" as defined in the U.S.)
This is an enormous step forward.
The author of the OpEd is the son of a woman from the North and a man from the South and he speaks extensively of his experiences visiting his mother's family in Derry ~ of the roadblocks, the soldiers, the weapons ~ and how now with his own children, there is nothing to explain in Northern Ireland, with a cease fire in place for several years now. It is in New York that he finds himself explaining armed men and women and makeshift memorials. A strange dichotomy, no?
I wonder, does his experience in Northern Ireland make him more or less prepared for the new place America has become post 9/11?
I wonder because I'm asking myself the same question.
I spent the summer of 1993 studying at Magee College in Derry City. It was before the cease fire and there were multiple checkpoints in and around the city with Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in full body armour with assault weapons manning each one. Nearly everyday at lunch, an armored vehicle would cruise through the downtown area, making a loop around the square with rifles aimed out the sides at pedestrians and patrons of outdoor cafes. Then sometimes, a small car would pull up next to the fountain by the shopping district and a bunch of paratroopers in full gear would hop out (strangely like clowns spilling from a VW bug at Ringling Brothers) and take up positions outside the shops. I have never seen so many guns in my life and that's saying something considering I am the daughter of a hunter and have visited multiple gun stores on multiple occasions. I went through checkpoints six times a day. I walked past armored vehicles with weapons trained on my head. I was close enough to touch paratroopers who were not nearly my age of 22, and had less of an idea of what they were doing there than I did.
But here's the surprise. I became really comfortable having all those guns pointed at me. Of all the things that I anticipated, that was never one of them. In fact, when I returned to Londondery and Derry, New Hampshire, it felt odd to not see anyone armed to the gills and to not have armoured vehicles driving around. That was worse than surprising. That was disturbing.
So did I feel unsafe in Northern Ireland?
Actually no. As an Irish Catholic college student from Boston, I felt like the safest person in the place. The way I figured it, either side would fall all over themselves to make sure nothing happened to me: if any harm came to me courtesy of the IRA, there funding would try up; if it was the fault of the Unionists, the IRA would see their biggest boost since Bloody Sunday. The only time I did feel unsafe was one morning when we had a surprise guest lecture from two gentleman ~ one a leader of Sinn Fein and the other was a leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ~ in a different building than our usual class. In their introduction, our professor mentioned that both men had a price on his head, explaining the lack of prior notification about the class topic and location change, and during class the two joked as to whose head was worth more. Some time toward the end of class there was a cacophony from the room directly above us ~ as if a scuffle of furniture and other large objects had occurred. Most of my class was on the floor, under their chairs ~ I, less than a year away from being mugged by four teenagers, was calmly taking in the action in the room and was able to notice that neither of the politicians nor my professor even flinched.
But back on topic. Did all of this prepare me for America post 9/11?
Not really. There may have been all these crazy checkpoints and police towers in cages (to prevent explosives from exploding within many feet of the tower), but there wasn't any real violence. Sure, there were a few assassinations/executions while I was there. But it was precision violence. It wasn't terrorism. There were fewer homicides than in Baltimore where I was attending college.
I guess in a way it made me less "freaked out" by the fully armed National Guard patrolling airports and train stations in late 2001 and 2002. In November of 2001, I went through Union Station in Washington and then flew out of BWI and that was the most extreme security I ever saw, but it didn't seem out of place. Houston, with it's lack of security, seemed to be living on another planet and that seemed strange. I guess "normal" is not a constant.
But nothing could prepare me for working in the emergency preparedness program, for receiving the Homeland Security and State Police Bulletins. Nothing prepares you for playing along in a Department of Defense drill where the whole point is to overwhelm all civilian response, local, state and federal. Where you are being set up to fail on a grand scale and yet you know a simple truth. There is a right was to fail and a wrong way to fail. How can anything prepare you to understand that?
Right after 9/11, I remember being grateful for the fact that I didn't have any children. I couldn't imagine bringing a little person into the horrible place that our world had become. Of course, my perceptions have changed ~ the world isn't as frightening it was in the weeks right after 9/11. Life moved forward and smoothed out. I have more faith in my ability to shield a child from all that is wrong in this world.
And, I have more faith in the ability of this world to heal itself. Just look at Northern Ireland.
