Greetings all

Just wanted to set the record straight, if you check back to my prior post, I was not comparing Bobby Sands to Gandhi and MLK,Jr. I was comparing is willingness to die in a non-violent protest to their actions in their struggles. I am no expert on this subject. All I know is what was reported on the news years ago as well as occasional retrospectives and the discussions I've been involved with such as this. I cannot and will not form an opinion on Bobby Sands the man. But I can look at his final days and respect those actions and the intent behind them.

The people who dehumanize "criminals" or "enemies" as seems to have been done to Bobby Sands and the others only ends up dehumanizing themselves. Bobby Sands did something that brought back his humanity. He exerted his free-will and chose to do one of the few things that his captors were unwilling to prevent.

Gandhi and MLK,Jr. dedicated their lives to securing the rights of humans through non-violent means. While both died from assassins and not through protests as did Sands, they both repeatedly put their lives on the line. From what I've seen of the history of pre-1968 N. Ireland, that was tried by at least some of the Catholic leadership. Unfortunately it failed. In my opinion it did not fail because of Bloody Sunday, but because the protesters chose to let it fail because of Bloody Sunday. Gandhi said once that he was not willing to kill for a cause but he was willing to die for a cause.

What happened after Bloody Sunday is neither right or wrong. It was individuals and organizations doing what they thought best to change a situation that they believe was intolerable. I will not condemn them for their actions and neither will I condemn the British/Unionists for theirs.

I WILL praise both sides for the advances in the last few years. And hope and pray that these advances continue until both Catholic and Protestant and everone else have a decent job, a decent house and the feeling of safety that I have in my life.

Blessed be & pax

Blackcat2