Notes from a Spinning Planet—Ireland Read Online Free

Northern Ireland among such hatred and violence and hopelessness. So by the end of our sophomore year, when this same professor put up a poster about an opportunity to help out at a summer camp that needed volunteers, both Danielle and I signed right up.”
    “Where was the camp located?” I ask.
    “On an old estate about thirty miles out of Belfast. A family donated this gorgeous piece of property with the goal of uniting Protestant and Catholic children in a camplike atmosphere. It was called a peace camp. They hoped it would provide a means for kids to learn to accept their religious and political differences before they became too biased.”
    “Cool idea,” I tell her. “Did it work?”
    “It seemed to. I mean, the campers arrived with some obviousproblems and prejudices, but after they started having fun and acting like regular kids, they seemed to almost forget their differences. At least while they were there. Who knows what happened after they went home.” She pauses as the waitress comes to take our order.
    “Of course, those children are all grownups now,” she continues. “Probably in their thirties and forties.” She shakes her head and sighs as if this is hard to believe.
    “I wonder how it affected their lives.”
    “Well, that’s exactly why I’m here, Maddie. My assignment is to write a follow-up article about the peace-camp kids we worked with thirty years ago. I’ve contacted some former campers who agreed to interviews. And I’ve heard that one was actually involved in the Good Friday Agreement.”
    “What’s that?” I ask as I set aside the menu.
    “That’s when the IRA agreed to disarm,” Ryan informs me, “several years ago. It was a huge thing for Northern Ireland. A lot of people thought it wouldn’t work, and it was a little rough at first. But the bombings and shootings have really gone down since then—on both sides.”
    I glance at him, curious as to how he knows so much about this. I mean, I don’t exactly live under a stone, and I do know that the IRA stands for the Irish Republican Army, and I think they formed to drive the British Protestants out of Ireland, or something to that effect.
    “It really was a monumental step for unity in Ireland,” says Sid. “Of course, the Good Friday Agreement hasn’t solved all their problems, but it was a big shift toward peace.”
    “I don’t like to sound ignorant,” I admit, “but I guess I don’t know that much about all of this. Like how it all started or why. Well, other than the fact that Catholics and Protestants seem to hate each other. But I don’t really get that. I mean, aren’t they both supposed to be Christians?”
    “It’s pretty complicated,” says Sid. “And it goes back hundreds of years. In a nutshell, it has to do with Northern Ireland wanting independence from Britain, wanting to be reunited with the Republic of Ireland.”
    “The reason the religious aspect is messy is because most of the Irish are Catholics, and most of the British are Protestants,” says Ryan. “And the history of Catholics and Protestants, particularly on this side of the globe, is that they don’t get along. So this whole Irish-independence thing starts to look like a religious war too.”
    “Sort of like two cultures colliding, and neither one of them wants to accept the other,” continues Sid.
    “Why don’t the British just go back to Britain?” I ask.
    “That would sure make the Irish happy,” says Ryan.
    Sid kind of laughs. “Yeah, if only it were that simple. But, unfortunately, it involves things like money and land and pride.”
    “But it seems like the two Irelands should be reunited,” I protest, feeling sorry that the country has been divided like this. “It seems wrong that they’ve been split apart if they’re both really Irish.”
    “Keep in mind that a lot of British people live in Northern Ireland,” explains Sid. “Some have been here for generations. They think of it as their home, and