Let down by Bertie again

Downtime

Letter in the Irish Times today regarding Bertie Ahern's message in George Best's Book of Condolences.



Madam, - Regarding de photo of Bertie Ahern's contribution to de buke of condolences for George Best, I note dat our Taoiseach has written on behalf of the "Goverment" offering his "sympaties".

xzanti

ur spelin is sh*te

Dermington

he spelled it that way because thats how bertie would pronounce it...:rolleyes:

Downtime

xzanti wrote:

ur spelin is sh*te

Eh Bertie's is - that's the point.

xzanti

Oh rite... I see, very good

Downtime

Dermington wrote:

he spelled it that way because thats how bertie would pronounce it...:rolleyes:

Probably didn't make myself clear.

Bertie spelt Government and Sympathies incorrectly on the Book of Condolences.

SpAcEd OuT

jesus thats terrible!

xzanti

Downtime wrote:

Probably didn't make myself clear.

Bertie spelt Government and Sympathies incorrectly on the Book of Condolences.

Ya see I thought you were giving out about him not expressing his sympahty from the Irish People rather than just the Government... My bad

whiskeyman

At least he didnt write "I think I may need a bathroom break.."

I'd be more annoyed by the fact he didnt represent the Irish people (as xzanti pointed out) tbh..

muckwarrior

Jaysus, he can't even spell government, never mind feckin run it!

panda100

I was reading that letter in the times this morning-v.witty.It's not the spelling that got me but just that I think this book of condolences thing has got out of hand.Like for the pope,princess diana and now anyone whose remotely in the media has a book of condolences opened for them.When i looked through the book of condolences in dublin for when the pope died it was really just a list of signatures,I wrote in it cos i felt compelled to write about one experience i had with the pope.So i ended up writing a good half a page about it.I think when people queue up for hours to sign these books they are just jumping on the grief bandwagon.It's so impersonal and cold what bertie wrote yesterday-i know he offered his sympathies but really when someone dies thats close to you this really doesnt help.I think a book fulll of a thousand signatures offering their condolences can do nothing to help the families grief and is just a waste of time.If you really want to celebrate george Best memory then instead of waiting in a queue to sign a piece of paper for five hours,wouldnt it help his memory a lot more to volunteer collecting for a local youth football team in your area or for an alcoholics awarness group?

whiskeyman

panda100 wrote:

.I think a book fulll of a thousand signatures offering their condolences can do nothing to help the families grief and is just a waste of time.

Books of condolence probably do more for the grieving public as a way of expressing their sorrow and feel it as a direct route to the bereaved family.
Bests funeral is turning out to a similar outpouring of grief seen after Diana (not on same scale though)... there's lots of interesting articles how people often need to let out built up emotions and these events can often help.
Sky News had a "breaking news" flash yesterday afternoon as they got word of the pallbearers for the funeral.... a bit much I think.

I remember signing the books of condolance outside the US embassey after 9/11.... the g/f wanted to go, but I was honestly thinking "what the heck am I doing this for? Sure I'm saddened, but this isnt going to help anything or anyone except myself".

panda100

whiskeyman wrote:

Books of condolence probably do more for the grieving public as a way of expressing their sorrow and feel it as a direct route to the bereaved family.
Bests funeral is turning out to a similar outpouring of grief seen after Diana (not on same scale though)... there's lots of interesting articles how people often need to let out built up emotions and these events can often help.
Sky News had a "breaking news" flash yesterday afternoon as they got word of the pallbearers for the funeral.... a bit much I think.

I remember signing the books of condolance outside the US embassey after 9/11.... the g/f wanted to go, but I was honestly thinking "what the heck am I doing this for? Sure I'm sadded, but this isnt going to help anything or anyone except myself".

yeah i see but its clear events show that the majority of people in england,Ireland and the u.s who feel the only time to express their grief is when these big events happen of people dying who are no relation to them.It shows an underlying problem with us if this is the only time we can express our emotions.It shows tan underlying problem that we must bunhappy with our lives if we can cry so freely at events and people so far removed from our everyday lives,such a sprincess diana and 9/11.

I can see that people may think queuing up to sign a book of cndolences is a good way to handle their grief.Howver,they are not experincing a true grief,george best,princess diana and the victims of the tsunami are not a loss for us even though we feel for their families so we are just experincing a false grief. Doing something pro active like organising an alcohol awarness session in your local community or fundraising for one of princess dianas charities is a lot better way to handle your grief instead of bawling outside kensington palace for three hours with a bunch of flowres in your hand and then signing a book.