The troubles

* I fixed it so everyone can leave comments, i think, sorry for the hassle!*

I have continued to ask and listen to people share their perspectives about the troubles.

The basic rundown of "the troubles" as I have pieced together- Irish are the equivalent of the indigenous people, their story is very similar to Native Americans. They were forced to live off the worst land, when invaded. They are the underdogs always having to fight for survival and a sense of identity. They were converted to Catholicism ( started with St Patrick) by force, then the reformation came, with the British invading Ireland again, removing all catholic churches overtaking anything profitable and replacing it with the reformed churches, protestant churches. Most of the great old catholic cathedrals from the 1200's are protestant run. Hundreds of years later, the conflict continues as some want to own their Irish Identity, and some was to stick with their British identity( stay with the UK, run themselves). 2007 was when the last "peace troops"- brisith soldiers left. The centre is right on the border, across the bay is the republic of Ireland, so the Catholic and the protestants have strong communities here, a tenth of the bombs during the troubles hit this area.

A group of leaders of a kid center came and shared about what they have been doing in a neighboring town for the youth ( the community here prays for different programs and so the programs come to share what they need prayer for). Suicide rate among teens is outrageous, as well as the typical drugs,drinking issues. The "troubles" affect them as well, and continue to keep it a mostly protestant group. The churches avoid involvment, and the youth stay out of the churches, they say they find it irrelevant to them. The odd thing is, the Protestant and Catholic divide is still what they define themselves by, it is a very large part of their culture, they have different schools, pubs, languages, money, sides of the street, they don't marry each other. Talking to the kids ( some came), it seems like an accepted part of their life, no bitterness or sense of ridiculousness, it just is.

This last weekend a group of 20 somethings came for a retreat weekend. I was talking to one girl about her desire to do cross community work and she shared how last week she met little catholic 5 year old kid running around with sticks so he can beat the protestants if they come near ( when asked she says she is a christian, not identifying herself as either).
Other people from the retreat groan when it is brought up, as it is an age old argument that is, what it is.

I learned they may be a link with what has happened to the Native Americans. I was sharing my thoughts with a guy here on the similarities between the two groups and he told how he feels the Irish brought that to America. He has been researching Samuel L Jackson ( Irish) and his involvement in the trail of tears. The man I was speaking to was saying how the Irish did to the Indians, what had been done to them, setting in place the legacy of stripping their identity and culture. In both countries the legacy is continuing to tread upon the current generations.

So that was anything by brief; I hope it was at least intersting to you ( if not, thanks for being a dedicated reader, or least skipping to the end, beliving there may be somthing else interesting here, I do that too sometimes).