I grew up in Northern Ireland and as you all know N.I. was infamous for conflict and sectarianism. Now it has changed and since I have moved back (after having lived away for ten years) I have noticed some things have changed and some things have not. This is not a political blog and I am not going to go into that but I did see something that made me think of how change is possible.
There is a large “roundabout”(freeway intersection) near where we live and the other day as I passed that intersection I noticed what looked like a car battery with wires hanging out of it. I thought to myself – now that is a suspicious object and I was wondering if I would be hearing about road closures and army bomb disposal teams being deployed to the intersection. I felt guilty that I didn’t report it to the police but then I had said to myself “it is just a car battery that somebody had dumped there”. Then something different happened. Nothing. No alerts on the radio, no army, no traffic chaos and driving past there the other day I could see that black box with wires protruding from it was still there. Now I realize there are ecological questions as to what person dumped a car battery in such a place but there was another realization. Ten to 20 years ago that car battery would have been treated as a suspect device. It certainly wouldn’t still be there nearly three days later.
Another thing I noticed since I moved back was that the graffiti had changed slightly here. Some sectarian murals are being replaced by ones depicting local sports heroes and I even saw some graffiti telling us to “SAY NO TO THE WATER CHARGES!” – referring to the impending water rates that we will have to pay.
My point is this. Change may be difficult and it may be slow but it IS possible. So if you are trying to change a habit of a lifetime - be patient. Change WILL come in and it will come in small steps.
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