Where Are The Heros Gone?
November 26, 2003
I watched a marvellous programme on RTE last night about the heroic O'Rahilly family and the events that took place in Ailesbury Road during the tragic days of our Civil War. The central thesis of the programme was that back then, we were a nation of idealists. A small island packed with many young men and women who were ready to die for their country. To fight for the freedom of generations to come.
Such a contrast with The Irish Times article on the same day. A night out with the unfortunate gardai policing west Dublin. A landscape of violence alright but for all the wrong reasons. Sinister messages remain about cocktails of cocaine, steroids and semi automatic weapons.
How does all of this relate to the blog about one woman's experience running a business in Dublin you might well ask?
Despite the hundreds of individuals who were brave enough to give their lives for their country, there is still violence. Violence did not eradicate violence. The twenty-somethings of the suburbs stand like warped images of the ones who lived by the gun before them.
And what of me? Every family has its Easter Rising story. Mine tells of my Great Grandfather rushing in to his drapery shop in Henry Street as soon as he could on Easter Monday - speaking English with the British soldiers standing guard on street corners, commending the Rebels as gaeilge as they scurried through streets to re-arm, to re-group, and to resuscitate.
Twenty first century, I was doing my fair share of scurrying on Monday. A paper I had worked hard on all weekend was due and my internet connection chose that day to give up on me. The battery on my laptop died when I got to an internet café, so I was facing a bare black screen, and I couldn't get my work off my computer and away to the client. My mobile was taken away to be fixed. I was stripped bare of all my tools and I couldn't help thinking about how difficult life can be sometimes.
After reflecting on that marvellous programme last night, I got things into perspective. Difficult means not being able to express your beliefs, and living in a city that has the worst slums in Europe. Difficult is, when all around you, friends and family are dying for great causes - be it the Great War or the War of Independence. So I told myself to cop on, get on the phone to the technical support desks, and just get on with it..