I'm at a place right now where a few things are frustrating me. Not just a wee silly frustration, I mean a deeply rooted in your soul frustration. One such thing is the political state of this country.
So, up until recently I would have regarded myself as a Unionist. Not a hard core loyalist Orangewoman kind of Unionist...more like a 'yeah, i quite like the fact we're in the UK' kind of Unionist. So what's changed my mind? Well, politicians have had a bit to do with it, but the main thing has been the hardcore followers of Unionist parties (the DUP in particular). Obviously, the leaders of those parties aren't going to live forever. People will have to take their places at some stage, and when they do take over, the future of Northern Ireland will depend on them. That scares the life out of me, because current leaders seem quite happy to work alongside parties with opposing political/religious/cultural views...but some of the young people who will be the future of this country seem to be so incredibly marinated in their own narrow-minded views that they just point blank refuse to have anything to do with 'the other side'. It's absolutely ridiculous, and I can't stand it. I realise that scores of people were killed and injured and hurt by the troubles, and I can't even begin to imagine how hard it would be to be affected by it all...i know it's easy for me to say this, because I haven't been affected by any of it, but for this country to move on, do we not have to move on from the troubles and who has the right to march where and who was involved in what bombings? We are in 2011, post-recession, where taxes are rising and public spending is falling. Should it matter whether the Orangemen aren't allowed to walk down a stretch of road, or whether a Sinn Fein party member is representing a certain part of the country? As young people who have lived in a relatively peaceful Northern Ireland, should we not be more concerned about how we're going to make this country the best possible place to live for ourselves and the next generation? Nothing will ever get done in NI until we accept what happened in the past and keep on moving on.
And this is where God comes in. My story of being completely put off my own political stance by the people representing it in my generation lies parallel to the stories I hear daily of people being put off Jesus because of others who are supposed to be representing Him. When we strip it down and get back to basics...are we being Christ or being cliquey, hypocritical Christians? Are we representing Christ well or are we just talking the talk? Are we even representing Him at all? Gandhi made one of the most challenging, profound and heartbreaking statements ever when he said: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Just some food for thought.
