AH SURE AZURE

Tag: peace

  • The Real President

    The Real President

    Hillary Clinton wowed us in Dublin when she received her Honorary Doctorate from Trinity. Her unique style of  speaking, honed by years of experience, was a masterclass in communication. But it was her character, the fun and intelligence that won us over.The reaction of Irish people is that she would have won the presidential race if she had presented this fun, outgoing side to the voters.

    When Jack Lynch was Taoiseach (Prime Minister) in Ireland, his home city of Cork was dubbed the Real Capital. It has stuck, not least because of Cork people’s reputedly high opinion of themselves and their city. I can say this as a Cork woman myself. I am familiar with the intricacies of oneupmanship on a minute and grand scale.

    Less than a month after the 9/11 bombing in New York, my first cousin was scheduled to get married in that city, where she has lived for many years. She duly went ahead with her plans, on the 2nd October, Columbus weekend.  The following Monday, the Columbus day parade rolled up Fifth Avenue.

    I had passed the fire stations covered with pictures of the  dead and lost relatives. The emotion was palpable in the air. So to savour the excitement of bands playing and cheerleaders marching in a display that only the Americans can pull off, was a welcome relief. It symbolised the pioneering spirit of Christopher Colombus, where a city dusted itself down and got on with celebrations in the wake of the worst onslaught in living memory.  Mayor Rudi Giuliani took control and his calming influence was key to the city’s recovery.

    The parade took well over an hour to pass. I had a good spot behind a barrier and I took photos that are long since deleted of soldiers in plumed hats, nineteenth century minutemen and modern Navy gear. Finally at the back of the parade, there was a commotion. A group of people emerged, walking and stopping to shake hands with onlookers. In the middle, was none other than Hilary Clinton, the Senator recently moved to New York in advance of her presidential bid.

    She was dressed in yellow, and was a ball of energy. And yes, she did have charisma, she did exude a vibrant personality. I was not surprised when she came across so well in Dublin, having experienced her presence up close so many years before. Who would have thought that she would end up the defeated candidate and that Rudi Giuliani would end up a key defence lawyer in Trump’s administration.

    I vote we name her the Real President in this year when we commemorate a century of votes for women in Ireland. An Honorary Doctorate is really not  enough.

  • Sands of Time

    Sands of Time

    The sun enticed me to the beach today.

    A privilege of country living is being able to capture moments like this. The rippling of the waves brings peace.

    I thought of Keats’ wonderful lines:

    Oh, ye! who have your eyeballs vexed and tired, 
        Feast them upon the wideness of the Sea; 
            Oh ye! whose ears are dinned with uproar rude, 
        Or fed too much with cloying melody— 
            Sit ye near some old Cavern’s Mouth and brood, 
    Until ye start, as if the sea nymphs quired! 

    Nature has a powerful way of allowing you to connect with yourself and what is really going on inside.

    Now I didn’t come across any sea nymphs or anything but I thought of my sister who left us four years ago on this day. The sea still comes in and out and always will long after we are gone. It leaves marks on the sand that are gone the next time the tide comes in. I suppose this is what they mean by the sands of time. Always shifting but never disappearing. When someone you love is taken away, other things you love still remain such as the sea, sun and fresh air.

    I thought of Neptune the God of the Sea – even he cannot hold the tide back. Last night I went to see the Justice League, a movie featuring Superheroes where there was an awesome pale blue eyed Neptune, complete with Trident. He managed to hold back a few floods in order to ‘save the world’ but even he was pushed back eventually.

    I have a metaphor for my efforts to change my career. Its from Castaway with Tom Hanks. There is a coral reef about 200 metres out from the beach that he has to get past before he can paddle out into the wide ocean. The waves break on it continually and he has wounded himself on the sharp coral many times. He spends his days devising methods to get himself past the reef, designing rafts and failing time and again. Eventually he uses an old piece of corrugated plastic that washed up on the beach and puts a makeshift sail on it. The wind in the sail gives him enough momentum to get beyond the reef, allowing him to journey back to civilisation.

    The wind in my sails has been my friends offering me a country retreat while I paddle past the rocks of convention so I can start forging a new way of life.

    It has been exciting so far but I hope I don’t have to get picked up by a liner in order to make it wherever I am going. I am going ahead with a mind ‘open to everything and attached to nothing’ – thank you Wayne Dyer.

    DSC_0720

    Not  exactly a Coral Reef but what sun on a Winter’s day.

    DSC_0728

    Patterns left from the ebb and flow of the sea.

    DSC_0732

    Bright winter sunshine on the wet sand.