A PRAYER FOR IRELAND

culture vandals

A Prayer for Ireland.

Was there ever a time when people felt so low, so grey, a time when helplessness and loss became the norm. My friends, we are now not just the fallen generation but the Superfallen as the stories mount and the scandals pile up.

Political celebrity that nurtures complete incompetence. A Church that is rotten to its very core with the trusted ones raping children while their hierarchy lifts the rug to sweep it all away. For decades. Not to mention high prices, low confidence, and no self-esteem and of course no money…. But there’s always plenty of x factor to keep us distracted.

The spin doctors grin while pitting the people against each another, public vs. private, tax payer vs. unemployed, rich vs. poor, me vs. you. Why? so a small few at the top of the castle can escape blame while the people scream for a bit of peace, a small bit of ease. They ache for some stability and ,maybe a sunny day. They pray for reasons, some common sense and fair play, when reality shows us that such things have left this once fine land.
A lot of people never prospered from the boom, some like me wished for a life with a little more meaning and purpose than just the procurement of money and shiny things. Others who didn’t prosper were just unlucky and couldn’t get in on the action because as we all know the gates are guarded by the captains of industry and pride has no place in business when there’s money to be made.

I remember during the boom years, shaking the head in disbelief when I saw teachers and nurses weren’t economically viable, they could not afford a home in a country that was awash with new homes. I told myself “what hope have I when the best of us struggle to survive”. The prices kept rising and rising and overnight it seemed, everyone was buying and buying but no one was thinking of tomorrow. Then it came to an end, but not without warning.
The wise and perceptive among us were on the rooftops shouting at the top of their lungs about the impending crash.
“Crash” they said.
“Soft landing” the leaders said.
“SHUT THE DOORS” the banks said.
However for people like myself, I felt no crash simply because I made no false gains from the false economy. I felt no pain until the 2008 budget that is.


On the 14th of October 2008 while I stood watching my T.V like most of the country, I realized something. I shuddered at the thought of it, but thinking back I now know this to be true as my realization has been continually reaffirmed since. You can call me naïve, but I seen what drives and motivates our so called leaders. I realized that greed and self-interest is what hold Irelands elite in the position they are in. they stamp on the faces of the people while apologizing with a sly grin on their faces; they talk of pain when all they know is how to dish it out. They take and suck and drain to keep their lives plush and ours empty, and as I extend my gaze to the wider world around me, I see the other “western, consumption-driven, so called civilized” nations and see that they are all the same. The minority of people own the majority of things, the people struggle while the elite soar, but in Ireland we have a new one which is “we take from the poor to give to the rich”. Words cannot describe how wrong all this is. A world driven by greed, selfishness and fear is an impending road to self destruction.

The system clearly does not work. How much more needs to go wrong before this is seen and believed, but even seeing and believing doesn’t automatically mean that things will change. Why? because the ones who control the game like the way it’s played.
When the church sold masses to so called “sinners” there was change and reformation. Where regal opulence stole the bread from the mouths of French citizens, there was revolution. When systems fail the people rise up to fix things. The people change the system, for without them there is no system. The people are the ones who drive noticeable change. They are the ones who hunger for a better way for all and not just for the few. The people are the ones who eject the tyrants from their sight. The people are the ones with ALL the power.
But, the Irish people it seems have lost their collective voice.

Also it’s seems that the establishment has learned from it’s past mistakes and uses this to outsmart the masses by confusing the issue until there is no issue to debate or they single out the most unimportant point to debate over. Mocking the whole notion of change and even debate.
I think the Irish government is not part of the people of this country. They cannot carry out the will of the people and protect the most venerable because they are protecting the most powerful in this land, namely, the banks and themselves. The speak but say nothing. They listen but hear nothing. Their thoughts are not on the citizens but on themselves. They have no moral authority. They do not understand the damage that has been caused simply because they run their government solely for economic reasons or should I say, self interested, greedy, jobs for the boys, contempt for the people kind of way. Our country is under siege. The factory rats are running every conceivable thing into the ground, and a fatalistic government is a dangerous government. They plunder the pennies of the masses to feed depraved, monstrous, and unimaginable greed of the few select masters of the universe.
I repeat myself because no possible word or combination of words can ever describe what has been done in this country over the last while. My crass and unimaginative repetition will have to do.

I feel this in my bones and wonder if the rest of my fellow citizens feel as strongly as I do. I also feel that there will be more unbelievable things to come…and then even more. I wish with each breath that nothing more does happen in our small country, but that doesn’t take away my fear. I also feel that we are being desensitized to the point where corruption is just part of political life, where election promises are just said but never followed through on with no accountability, where long hours spent doing nothing means the same as hard work and high wages must mean that a job has been well done.

Then there’s real life, a place Ireland government do not live. A place where kids go to an ever decreasing standard of school, where people go to fewer and fewer jobs. A world where families stick together to see off the hard times, a place where knowing your worth is proved by who your with rather than how much you have in your pocket.

To all I’ve said so far I have no answer, only observation to my shame but, maybe in some small way, observation need to be the beginning to all this change and healing. How can we know what’s wrong if we bury our head in the sand and ignore it. How can a government serve its people when the people don’t watch for mistakes and how can you hold disgusting decisions and behavior accountable with secret enquires! My point is simple

I love my country, my home, and I care for each and every person who wants something more and something better for all of us in Ireland. With every vibrating string within each atom of my saddened and tired being I wish and prey for the people of Ireland to find their collective voice. I wish for no more greedy, selfish politics, they are the past, the people are the future. I wish so much to be proud of where I come from once again. I wish for the people of this land to stand up for themselves instead of being so beaten down by the tyrannical system set in place to make life harder for some and not others. I wish for us once and for all to set aside difference and realize that we are all in this together and no amount of power or money can make any man or woman better than anyone else.
We all know things need to change. It’s up to us to stop them, it’s not too late.

We are the Irish people for Christ sake; let no one tell us what to do.
EdVadal
______________________
http://www.myspace.com/culture_vandals