At sea in a world where it’s difficult to believe anything

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

Last week Channel 4 television screened a three part miniseries on Tony Blair. I still remember the May night in 1997 he was declared prime minister in the UK; it was the end of many years of Conservative government. 

This young man and his Labour team offered new hope to his country and indeed the world. While the Iraq war will forever hang over him he played a major role in stopping the barbarism in Kosovo and of course he and Bertie Ahern played pivotal roles in silencing the guns in Northern Ireland.

I enjoyed the Channel 4 miniseries and learned a lot from it. 

I contacted a friend, suggesting she might watch it. She replied: ‘Blair is a nasty piece of work, would not believe a word he says’. 

Politics is a strange game and politicians are a special breed. But in democracies they are the people in charge, the people who help make rules for the common good. And all the time life trundles on, we get on with our daily living.

In the past in Ireland, families voted for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour and a few Independent personalities. In the early days of the State the big farmers voted FG and their smaller counterparts voted FF. There was a rhythm to it all.

And more or less the same with religion; there were Catholics, Protestants, small numbers of Jews; and again it all seemed to make sense; Catholic parents, Catholic children and so on.

It may not have been a healthy certainty but whether or not, it has now  vanished.

Back then would we ever have thought men would be marrying men, and women marrying women?

When I was a young man an extremely wealthy person was a millionaire, today they are billionaires. How is it possible to deal with all this?

Is it any wonder I’m at sea and don’t know where I am with my thoughts and beliefs. I think Blair was a decent man but my friend says he’s a nasty piece of work, who’s right?

And then in the midst of all this upheaval, the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein appears. We’re told he took his life by suicide. With the passing of every day and the flood of new revelations it seems possible the man is still alive or else bumped off to protect the rich and powerful. Rumour has it he worked for Mossad or the FSB. Who knows?

But for Virginia Giuffre, would the likes of me ever have heard of Epstein and his gang of sordidly wealthy men? In her book, Nobody’s Girl, she wrote that she feared she might die a sex salve. We are told she died by suicide. Another suicide or is that what we are told? I simply don’t know.

I’m back to what I said earlier; I’m lost, I don’t know who to believe, no, that’s not quite accurate; there are people in my life whom I trust and believe. But as for the world out there I’m swimming in a sea of the unknown.

Pope Leo is giving me some hope; he suggests we fast from harsh, offensive language, replacing it with kind words, respect, and constructive, loving communication.