Crossing the line

I had a conversation with a friend not too long ago about violence.

It began with a comment about the R. A. F. and the subsequent film, the Baader Meinhof Complex.

I was in West Germany 7 years after the infamous Deutscher Herbst of 1977, when they were perhaps most prolific. Whilst certain parts of their ideology were certainly attractive (in terms of anti-fascist and anti-imperialistic thinking) however, I could not in my mind rationalise taking another person's life to prove some point or other.

Clearly, in Ireland though, there still exists a mentality that violence is justifiable, given this morning's events.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8447829.stm

The Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, one formerly in tune with such actions and thinking, has rightly condemned the act, citing how the intended victim was involved in the local community via the G.A.A. an Irish speaker and so on.

My grandfather was a Dubliner. I am Irish. The border which separates north from south did not exist when he was born.

The borders we live with in our heads clearly still do.