Hello, how’s she cuttin’ (the grass in the summer), this is
the last Colm before a bit of a summer break, but, as always, breathe and the
summer is gone, so watch how you breathe. I don’t think I told you about the
funniest typo I have been responsible for in the last year. In producing
committee minutes – nothing to do with INNATE - I was intending to write about
‘external funding’ but left out the ‘x’ – if only it were, oh Lord, if only it
were, but for projects that depend on grant aid, a couple of years is as good
as it gets. Anyway, on with the show.
Touchy feely Corrymeely
On occasions there is the comment or inference that the Corrymeela
Community glosses over issues and emphasises a false and superficial
commonality, identified by the ‘touchy feely Corrymeely’ comment. I’m not sure
where this comes from, possibly from people who have had just a tangential
connection with the work of Corrymeela, and with any organisation of a size
people can come into contact with just one small part of it and make a
judgement about the whole based on that one small interaction. I am certainly
aware of critical stories about Corrymeela but which of us is part of an
organisation that hasn’t made mistakes? And Corrymeela has been involved in
on-the-ground work as well as facilitating interaction at their Centre in Ballycastle
and their smaller place in Knocklayd.
I was at their 2008 summer festival (‘Summerfest’ used to be
a fairly regular feature but hasn’t been held for around a decade, and this was
a one-day rather than longer event) and found it to be in good health, if that
was a day to judge it. I attended a drama workshop and a workshop on green
issues – in this connection perhaps I could use a previous headline from this
publication, ‘Corrymeela begins when you leaf’. Corrymeela is unique among
peace and reconciliation groups in Norn Iron in having begun before the
Troubles, worked right through – often in very difficult circumstances and
supporting people in dire situations – and come out the far side and planning
ahead. This is quite remarkable given a variety of factors including the
changing nature of funding and the vicissitudes of community life – both the
resident community in Ballycastle, the non-resident members community, the
staff in general, and the whole lot together.
One difficulty in the Troubles for an organisation with a
meeting place like Corrymeela was to be both a neutral meeting place and an
organisation which took a stand on issues. While it fitted more the former, it
did also make strong stands for reconciliation, for example. At the 2008 ‘Summerfest’
it was still asking some of the hard questions about Northern Ireland and the
world. I would personally be more radical on politics and nonviolence (which is
not where Corrymeela is at) than most of Corrymeela, but it does have its
radicals and fine thinkers of various sorts involved. But I have enormous
respect for its perseverance as well as the actual work done. When it comes to
some of the main issues that society in the North has had to deal with, far
from being ‘touch feely’, Corrymeela has had a sure touch and a good feel for
what was at hand. Its half century is now under a decade away, and long may it
continue. Their website at http://www.corrymeela.org
gives a good rundown on their work and their occasional magazine also provides
a window on their work and wider issues.
The peasants have spoken
All right, I know there’s a headytorial about the Lisbon
treaty rejection in the June referendum but I thought I’d do a bit different
reflection to the Headitor. The first thing that comes to mind is the EUrocrat
response – “how dare they, these ungrateful, wretched peasants, they were
reared like pheasants to be docile and get shot, and instead they say ‘no’! It
shouldn’t be allowed.” Axel Schäfer, SPD leader in the German Bundestag
committee on EU affairs was quoted in the Irish Times (14/6/08): “We think it is a real cheek that the country that has benefitted most from the EU should
do this.” So, that’s clear then, the Irish were just given the pretence they
had a decision and/or they didn’t realise they had been ‘bought’.
Much has been made of the disparate nature of those vocally
supporting the ‘no’ campaign – socialists, conservatives, peace activists, some
business, some agriculture, some anti-abortionists, a majority of the working
class, and others. What has not been analysed in the same way was the reasons
people voted ‘yes’ – polls showed that a substantial number of people were
going to vote ‘yes’ because they would be too embarrassed for Ireland to say
‘no’. What an incredibly flawed reason for voting ‘yes’! It didn’t matter what
the issues were, these people were going to be embarrassed that, once again,
Ireland would say ‘non’ and ‘nein’ to its elders and betters, so it was best to
avoid that embarrassment by saying ‘yes’. And they talk about the ‘no’
supporters being naďve!
Anyway, the sky hasn’t fallen on our heads, nor that of
anyone else (even in a little French village). At the moment the jury is out as
to whether the grand project is unravelling faster than its architects can put
it back together again. Please can we have a meaningful debate about the future
of the EU which doesn’t equate EUrocrat visions of a militarised, centralised
EU as ‘Europe’. It’s the same geographical folly as labelling the USA as ‘America’.
Strangely enough, for all of recorded history, Ireland has always been European
but what’s up for grabs is what being an EU citizen really should mean. Let us
hope that the Irish ‘no’ will contribute to this debate in a meaningful way.
No punch line
There is no punch line in this piece because it’s about not
getting as far as the punch line, denouement, conclusion, climax, of various
things I listen to on the radio. Blame the modern era. I’m not a news junkie,
or maybe just a reformed one and prefer to get my news as newsprint….the world
gets on perfectly well, or badly, without me and I do keep up to date through
the papers or a bit on the web. I don’t need to know about the latest crisis or
catastrophe as soon as it happens and, given the information overload most of
us suffer from, I’m glad to be that way. If I have time late on I may watch a
TV news but not most evenings.
However I do listen to music (too loudly, my family tend to
say), comedy or drama when I am in the kitchen cooking, which is nearly every
evening. But as family meal times are at least a bit flexible, it means I miss
the concluding part of a programme, or the final part of a serial, because of
that variability – either I’m not in the kitchen, or we’re eating. Sometimes it
annoys me but I am learning to take it as it comes. And then he [the main protagonist],
cooking in the kitchen, said…
Work/Life imbalance
Those of us who are peace or political activists are used to
having a very frenetic time of it so that our life partners and families may
suffer the consequences. Some of us work very hard to get the correct work/life
imbalance. I suppose it depends on how many +’s we put into the equation; work
+ home + extensive political activity + ? (fill in yourself) = not much
breathing space. Pacing ourselves and avoiding burnout, and the consequences of
that for relationships of all kinds is difficult. What tends to happen is the
undertakings we commit to are elastic, and that elasticity tends to be of the
stretching out (rather than contracting) sort. So a small commitment becomes a
bigger commitment, and a bigger commitment becomes massive. And a massive
commitment can cause a massive problem in our relationships; no time for
partners, family or friends, or simply insufficient time and energy to sustain
things.
Adopting a new routine where we build in relaxation time is
fine until that routine is disrupted and we are back to square one. And while I
really enjoy stepping off the treadmill for summer and winter breaks, I do find
starting up again is quite painful – the transition from ‘more relaxed mode’ to
top gear. There are no easy answers to this. Working less at the money-making
job is one possible answer but not everyone can afford to do that financially.
Setting a ‘stop’ time in the evening, or a firm dinner break, definite evenings
off, weekends where ‘nothing’ is done, are other options. What people do to
cope varies considerably. We can be martyrs for the cause and that doesn’t help
ourselves and may not even help others.
But, and this is the martyr speaking, if we believe in what
we’re doing then we are going to believe in doing something about it. And
coming to terms with what we can reasonably do, and accepting that, is the big
issue. We alone are not going to change the world. We can be part of people
changing the world, and what other people do is up to them. Some people say
that in Norn Iron today we can take things a bit easier because of where we
have got to but I can’t say I would go with that, and as someone who always
tries to be doing what other people are not doing (because there’s someone else
to do that) then it’s even more difficult, also as someone who’s not paid to do
what I do in this field. It’s always an ongoing issue and there is no one answer
– except to know our limits and those of the people we are in relationship
with.
Meanwhile, it’s summer… whahee…
Well, there we go. At this time of year, and this is no
exception, I usually quote Christy Moore [not again! – Ed] in the immortal
words of his song Lisdoonvarna when he sums up the nature of holidays in just
two lines:
When summer comes around each year
They come here, and we go there.
But, as with Christmas, it usually comes before I’m ready. Stop,
time…..Raspberries, don’t ripen so fast, I’m not ready to pick you yet (the
courgettes are coming on fine but the neighbours’ kitten dug up the tomatoes –
and it’s not even a ‘tom’ cat, ho ho ho, or boo hoo hoo, no likelihood of green
tomato chutney this year)…Only one more report to do…..Each year it’s different
things to some extent but each year it’s the same mad dash to get things done
before ‘summer’.
Anyway, I’ll get there and I hope you do too, wherever there
is. Enjoy the summer and see you in September, may the rain be gentle and the
sun pleasing, your corresdespondent,
Billy.
Who
is Billy King? A long, long time ago, in a more
innocent age (just talking about myself you understand),
there were magazines called 'Dawn' and 'Dawn Train'
and I had a back page column in these. Now the Headitor
has asked me to come out from under the carpet to write
a Cyberspace Column 'something people won't be able
to put down' (I hope you're not carrying your monitor
around with you).
Watch this. Cast a cold eye on life, on death, horseman
pass by (because there'll almost certainly be very little
about horses even if someone with a similar name is
found astride them on gable ends around certain parts
of Norn Iron).
