Difference is the essence of humanity

On December 7, 1972, a Belfast woman named Jean McConville heard a knock at her front door. Soon after, a group of masked men and women burst into her home and grabbed Jean while her ten children watched. Her screaming children attempted to cling to her as they forced her out and into the van. It was the last time they ever saw her alive.

From Say Nothing: A True Story Of Murder and Memory In Northern Ireland by Patrick Keefe


Since we were last together in Routh, I have been on two trips. The first was to China to visit Bromsgrove School Mission Hills in Shenzhen and to see some current and prospective families in Hong Kong. The second, this time last week, as to spend a couple of days at the annual heads’ conference which, this year, was held in Belfast.

Belfast is an interesting city and one that I would like to visit again: the Titanic was built in the Harland and Wolff Shipyard and the two cranes, Samson and Delilah, dominate the Belfast skyline; Queen's University Belfast is a Russell Group University and Belfast was home to George Best, the legendary footballer known for his incredible talent on the pitch but also his chaotic lifestyle which, unfortunately, led to his early death.
But for many of us, Belfast is known for a much sadder past and the brief passage that Rose read came from a book by Patrick Keefe, called Say Nothing – a story of Murder and Memory. The book tells the story of the Troubles, the period of conflict in Northern Ireland lasting from 1968 to 1998. This was a violent time, much of which was centred on Belfast, in which there was fighting between some Protestant unionists who wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK, and some Catholic nationalists who sought unification of the province with Ireland. Through that thirty-year period, there was widespread unrest, just across the Irish Sea, and 3600 people died. The longest continuous operation in British military history was the thirty-eight year period until 2007 in which British soldiers were stationed in Northern Island, in an attempt to keep the peace. 722 soldiers were killed trying to do so.

Jean McConville, who is described in the passage we heard, was one of a number of people to be murdered and secretly buried during Northern Ireland's Troubles. The mother-of-10 was a Protestant and originally from East Belfast. When she married, she converted to Catholicism and, after being intimidated out of their home, the family moved to west Belfast and began life on the Falls Road where you can still see a Peace Wall – to separate the two traditions. When Jean was taken from her home and made to disappear, there had been speculation that it was because she had been seen by neighbours helping an injured British soldier – not the thing to be seen to do in her tradition at the time.

I will leave you to read the book Say Nothing for yourself, but I was left with a few thoughts:

• Firstly, conflict is often complicated and may involve political, social, religious and personal differences; indeed, it is rarely black and white. It often stems from deeply held resentment of those who are apparently not the same as us – whoever us represents.

• Secondly, sometimes we hear reports of violence, injuries and deaths, and lives become measured in numbers so that we forget the impact on real people and their families.

• Thirdly, it was not until 1998 and the Good Friday agreement that the Troubles ended with power-sharing in Northern Ireland, improved relations between UK and Ireland, and significantly reduced violence, giving much more stability. The then Prime Minister, Tony Blair described the agreement as bringing about not a perfect peace, but a peace that has brought hope to Northern Ireland.

• However we access our world news at the moment, we will be aware that there are several areas of the world engaged in bitter conflict today, often between neighbours. My advice is that we should not only know about this but try to understand the issues behind the conflict, the apparent differences and, at the very least, remember that those who are impacted are often folk just like us – most of whom would happily continue with normal life alongside neighbours if they were able to do so.

• And finally, the title of the book Say Nothing is based on the poem by Seamus Heaney Whatever You Say Say Nothing. So often divisions are made worse when those affected are unable to talk about the issues. A culture of openness is far better, not least because it leads to understanding of the other side’s perspective.

John Hume was a Northern Irish politician who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the peace process, and he said this: Difference is the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth, and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace: respect for diversity.