Difference in unity

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

Stopped at traffic lights on Dublin’s Dame Street last week I had a fleeting chat with another cyclist. I thought he was Chinese but no, he was from Mongolia. I quickly said to him ‘ah Ulan Bator is the capital of Mongolia’. 

His response was an immediate smile. We exchanged a few kind words. The lights changed to green, we bad adieu and off we went. A fleeting moment of pleasantness. Two people from different parts of the world engaging in friendly talk. A life-enhancing experience.

That same day newspapers in Ireland and around the world carried photographs of Ivanka Trump with her husband Jared Kushner. Side by side with these pictures were photos of demonstrating Palestinians being fired on with plastic bullets, water-cannon and live ammunition. The previous day the Israeli army killed 60 people and wounded large numbers of demonstrators. Not one Israeli was killed.

The juxtaposition was striking. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were at the opening ceremony of the United States embassy in Jerusalem. It was an elegant affair, Ivanka dressed to perfection and husband Jared perfectly groomed. 

The splendour and wealth of the occasion at the US embassy was in stark contrast to the Palestinians protesting at the fence dividing Palestine from Israel. They looked poor, beaten, angry and frustrated. And why not when one considers the lives they lead. 

Approximately two million people are locked into a small area of land where the basic necessities of life are in short supply.

In many ways the problems of the Israel Palestine conflict tell in graphic detail what happens when people hate one another, when societies are incapable of living in peace and harmony.

Good and wise governance requires all sorts of skills and it also involves large doses of truth, honesty and justice. Opposing sides will always try to claim that truth and right is on their side. 

At the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the world truth was on the side of Israel. He used the word truth many times while at the same time his army was using live ammunition against poverty-stricken people.

What is it about humans that sees us in various degrees of conflict? It happens at all sorts of levels, in families, among friends, within countries. 

Since Easter Sunday the liturgy in Christian churches has been emphasising different aspects of the Trinity. 

For most people it is probably true to say the Trinity is some obtuse mystery they have heard mentioned in church. Since the foundations of Christianity the Trinity has afforded theologians the possibility of infinite discussions and mental gymnastics trying to get their heads around the greatest and most challenging Christian mystery. These days the Trinity seems to be out of fashion.

And yet it is centre stage in Christian theology. It’s about how perfect unity exists in God. It is a fabulous reminder or example to us how people have been called to live in unity and harmony, respecting in justice and truth one other’s differences.

It’s striking how the doctrine of the Trinity is not spoken about in these times of such brokenness and disunity.

Christianity offers the world amazing gems. What a shame we don’t try to live out the Trinity in our families, in our country, on the world stage.

Instead the world spent €1.7 trillion last year on armaments. We can do better. We have to do better.

My fellow cyclist from Mongolia and I deserve better, demand it too.