Marking her last day as President of Ireland, Mary McAleese writes a letter of thanks in today’s The Irish Times, and reflects on the human capacity for change.
“…..we have a stable peace for the first time in centuries. Regrettably the “rhyming” of peace and prosperity remains some distance away, for we have been hit with a massive economic retrenchment, a global recession and serious fiscal challenges within the euro zone.
Yet in the success, against the odds, of the efforts made by peacemakers of all persuasions, including those who once saw violence as an option, we can see the phenomenal human capacity for change and for improving the human condition.
In the quiet but relentless voluntary community work undertaken daily in every corner of this island, we can be reassured by the Irish gift for social solidarity, for taking responsibility, for making life more caring, interesting, exciting, inclusive and rewarding.”
In Ireland peace is the antithesis to prolonged sectarian violence and terrorism. Elsewhere it may be famine or drought, depravity of government or humanitarian crisis. Elsewhere are nations and places far less well off than Ireland or Italy or Greece. These countries talk of financial concepts of stimuli and quantitative easing; catalysts of commerce. In Juba and Nairobi, in Suva and Karachi the need is for a different kind of catalyst: food and sustainable agriculture, water, hygiene and sanitation practice, communication and education.
Everywhere, President McAleese’s letter reminds me, people should be afforded the opportunity to achieve the rhyme of peace and prosperity. And with the right catalysts, perhaps this rhyme can grow organically as it has begun to in Ireland, founded on the indomitable capacity of our species to improve itself.
Back to Archive