When peace considered impossible became reality

George J. Mitchell

This peace has been a lesson to the world in the art of the possible. Where others saw strife, the people of this island saw hope. Where others saw division, the people saw possibility. Where others saw bloodshed, the people saw pathways toward a peaceful tomorrow. A shared tomorrow A plural tomorrow. When we reached agreement, all those years ago, we stated that the tragedies of the past have left a legacy of suffering, and we could not forget those who have died, or those had been injured. We also said that we would always care for those families who had to shoulder the difficulties of healing.

We called for a fresh start in which we dedicated ourselves to reconciliation, tolerance, mutual trust and the protection of human rights for all. We promised to strive in every practical way toward reconciliation and rapprochement. Sometimes a handful of hopefuls can help create a climate of change that belongs, then, to every one of us. The American author James Baldwin once said: “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

I have seen almost a full century of change, much of it turbulent, but a great deal of it transformative. Within that change one other thing has been constant for me – the belief that nothing is insurmountable, given the will of the human spirit to believe in the possibility of one another. Ideas once considered outrageous or extreme soon become the bread of our days. Who could have believed in the possibility of peace when so many bombs went off, when so many barricades were put up, when so many promises were broken, when so many checkpoints blocked the roads?

Peace didn’t seem possible in 1968. Nor in 1974. Nor in 1981. Nor, indeed, I must admit, even in 1998 when, four months after the Agreement, the horrific Omagh bombing shook us to the core. We weren’t sure we could recover. But we did. Together. Peace was fostered and preserved and encouraged. Now, quite frankly, it seems normal. The cities are bright. Towns are bustling. The villages along the old border are at ease.

If we are to continue to flourish, a deep and proper contemplation of the future must occur. We must think about where we are going and how we will all get there. Done well, the results will light up the world. Done poorly, a darkness could plunge down again. The peace we have created and enjoyed since 1998 must evolve. The work is constantly unfinished. We must acknowledge the past, but not become beholden to it. It is our job to become continually new. The future resides within the world we have already created. So much work has already been done. So much more must follow. We need active thinking and active planning.

Sadly, we live in times when so many places are broken. Civil wars. Opposing factions. Ruptured agreements and countries, Willful destruction. Disinformation. An unwillingness to embrace progress. All over the world, this is happening. But these countries can look to this island as a lighthouse of peaceful engagement.

The future in Northern Ireland will rely on the embrace of difference. How can we step outside of our own biases and assumptions to find a common ground? The most obvious point is that a society must accept and embrace its minorities. We cannot afford to isolate anyone, especially as history changes the nature of what is a “majority” and what is a “minority.” Is there room for dispute? Of course there is. Our “truths” won’t always match. But there has to be a singular truth that goes through to the opposite side, a truth that holds all other truths.

That singular truth is that we are all in this together. We need one another. That need makes us meaningful.

I was fortunate enough to participate in the creation of the agreement. Was it easy? Certainly not. It took many years. And much patience, stamina, desire, courage. And cajoling. And personal and political sacrifice, but in the end, we witnessed politicians and civil servants and ordinary people coming together across divides. This co-mingling of our ongoing dreams is the sort of peace-building and peace-maintenance that we need in this world. I salute the people who are doing this extraordinary work. Every action matters. This is a kaleidoscopic effort. Change comes from an accumulation of personal actions. The tender glance. The piece of art. The small mercies. The open door. The acknowledgment of one another’s rights.

For peace to flourish, we need conversations and editorials and pamphlets and sermons and town halls and stories, all filling in the spaces across the old divides.

We need schoolchildren meeting one another, in person and virtually. We need newspapers. We need festivals. We need mothers meeting other mothers, even, and maybe especially, those who have been bereaved. I must reiterate that this is not a call for a specific political change. Any change is, and will be up to you, the people. In all of this I must also caution that one can never expect a perfect outcome. A wise friend of mine once said: “Don’t put all your begs in one ask-it.” It is not realistic to expect that the future will be a rose garden. It is never so. There will always be a thorn here and there.

We need to shoulder the burdens together. We must not get distracted by the buzzing bees of those small-minded people who want to narrow the laneways of our thought. We must build consensus. We need to embrace difficulty and not allow any natural human differences – geographical, religious, even aspirational – to cleave us open. It is often said that every conflict is a battle of the story that we tell. That is true. But it is also true that every resolution comes in the manner that we listen. In short, we need to listen to one another. And listen well.

Do not allow the bombdust to obscure the winds of change … a handful of hopefuls can create that change. Hope, then, meets hope. And that hope creates an overwhelming wave.

I have said this before, but sometimes the truth must be told over and over again: What happens here, can happen elsewhere. It can, in fact, happen everywhere.