Doing the right thing or just thinking it?

I had two emails inside the last twenty-four hours. (Actually I had an awful lot more than two but it’s just these two I want to write about.)  One was from a former classmate, in response to a link I’d sent him, urging people living outside the twenty-six (or is it twenty-two?) counties who haven’t got a vote to influence the election by contacting relatives/friends, whether by email or by calling, and urging them to make a difference and vote for Martin McGuinness, ideally  as No. 1, failing that as No 2 or 3 on their ballot paper. (Yes, Virginia, I do believe McGuinness would be far and away the best choice, and no, Viriginia, I don’t think the precludes me from passing comment on things political, any more than Eamon Dunphy should be asked to step away from the microphone because he’s in favour of McGuinness’s bid. Everyone has a view: that’s a totally different matter from being biased, so that you don’t do your job in a fair way. If all journalists/commentators declared their take on things as Dunphy has done, instead of faking “I have no opinion”, debate might be more sensible)…Where was I? Oh yes, emails. So  I sent this pro-McGuinness link to an old schoolmate; he responded by emailing me and saying he couldn’t encourage people to vote McGuinness because of McGuinness’s violent past.  Which was I’m sure a sincerely held view and fair enough, even if I disagreed with it.

Then I got a second email, which contained a letter  from Fr Sean MacManus which was printed in The Irish Times  recently.  In it he made the point that while a lot of people condemned McGuinness’s violent response to the injustice and  discrimination that were characteristic of the North, not nearly so many offered a non-violent response to that injustice. How many risked their lives, went to prison, were tortured  for their non-violent opposition to obvious injustice? How many of them showed the sincerity of their non-violent beliefs by suffering for them?

It strikes me as an interesting point. I’m increasingly convinced that in the next three weeks the media will give up on attention to the IRA section of McGuinness’s life and turn to scrutinize present qualifications for the presidential job. It couldn’t happen quickly enough, in my view. But meanwhile let's ask ourselves:  how many of the voices raised against McGuinness put into practice their non-violent philosophy and suffered for it? Mmm.  Single figures, would you say?  

But back to the voteless people with connections in the south of Ireland. One of the things that truly gets on my wick is when politicians or others call on their audience to “support us” – and leave it at that. Are we meant to guess what form that support might take? What about giving us a hint or two? Nothing like giving people the tools to turn fine words into deeds.

Which is why I like this give-your-southern-cousin-a-call line: it offers the chance to turn  sentiment into action.  George Bernard Shaw once said you know a man or woman’s philosophy, not from what  they say, but from how they habitually act.  How people respond to a link like this tells us – and them – a lot about the quality of their political philosophy. If you don’t act in some way on what you believe, what’s the point in having it?


Here's the link with accompanying comment. Over to you. 

http://barryleddyco.createsend1.com/t/ViewEmail/j/CC59E05234993613

Please send the above link to any Irish person you know living abroad or in the North who is disenfranchised in the election. These individuals represent an army of people can be mobilised to contact their relatives in the Irish Republic (and there are hundreds of thousands of them) and lobby them to vote McGuinness.

Please pass on and distribute widely.