Fire of Freedom-An Irish History

Ireland is in your hands, in your power. If you do not save her, she cannot save herself. I solemnly call upon you to recollect that I predict with the sincerest conviction that a quarter of her population will perish unless you come to her relief.
Daniel O'Connell,to the British House of Commons, 1847(from the History Place)

What causes a Christian to throw
bombs at 7 year old girls and call them whores?

What kind of religious
mind-set sanctions this, and, even more to the point, what kind of religious
leader does not outright condemn this behavior?

"I will say a prayer for all brave men who do their duty. Forgive them for they know not what they do." -James Connolly, facing the firing squad at his execution, May 1916

Now look at what we're doing to each other
We've even made killers of ourselves
The most child-like, trusting people in the Universe
And this is what's wrong with us
Our history books, the parent figures, lied to us...

I see the Irish as a race like a child that got itself bashed in the face
And if there ever is going to be healing, there has to be remembering, and then grieving
So that there then can be forgiving
There has to be knowledge and understanding...

"I am standing on the threshold of another trembling world. May God have mercy on my soul." -from prison diary, written on scraps of toilet paper

"We stand on the brink of a great achievement. In this Ireland, there is no solution to be found to our disagreements by shooting each other. There is no real invader here-we are all Irish, in all our different kinds of ways... We must not now, or ever in the future, show anything to each other except tolerance, forbearance, and neighborly love...'

To all of you who asked me to do what I could to help peace take root, I pledge you America's support. We will stand with you as you take risks for peace.

And the battle's just begun,
There's many lost, but tell me who has won?
Trenches dug within our hearts,
And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart