I just finished reading Gerry Adams’ memoir, “Before the Dawn,” and my first impression is I’m no further ahead than when I started.
Gerry Adams is the president of Sinn Fein, popularly known as the political wing of the Irish Republican Army. As I am of Irish descent who spent time in the thick of things, so to speak, during The Troubles, I had always felt sure of my knowledge of Gerry Adams, the IRA, and what the whole fight was about.
My knowledge of the IRA wasn’t exactly thorough. They murdered my uncle by shooting him in the back. They blew up some guy I didn’t know – he got into his lorry about a hundred yards from where I was and BOOM! He actually survived despite pieces of him strewn about the street. They blew up a school mate of mine – Paul Maxwell – and called it one of the greatest victories of the fight. From my perspective they seemed to be waging a terror war against anyone who disagreed with them, under the auspices of “fighting the British, fighting for freedom.”
Decades later while I wrote my memoir, something interesting and unexpected happened. I had about as much love for the IRA as I had for one of my old schools, Portora Royal. My time there had been unpleasant, for the most part, and I thought for sure all the issues I had later in life were a direct result of what happened there. But when I put out the call for help in capturing the Portora experience – all of it – accurately, I discovered much of my bitterness survived because I allowed it to. Friends and acquaintances alike stepped in to share their memories with me. That alone melted away much of icy block I carried with me all this time, leading to a sense of reconciliation with myself and clearing the path for me to move forward. I thought if that could happen with Portora, maybe I should reconsider my beliefs regarding Irish history. After all, if I’m going to talk about it in my memoir I should probably have a better understanding of what I’m talking about, right?
So I picked up Mr. Adams’ memoir at the library hoping to be drawn into his point of view. That didn’t mean I had to suddenly agree with it, but at least I would better understand it. Unfortunately, from the outset “Before the Dawn” had me wondering what the hell was the fighting all about really. He starts with his childhood – tells us about the poverty and then shows us a lack of real hardship. His family got free housing, free education, free money. His beef with the British seems to have started when the government wanted to replace the slum he lived in with modern apartment blocks. He complained that would destroy the established community.
Over three thousand dead later, he finishes the book going on about British intransigence leading to the deaths of the hunger strikers yet makes it very clear the nationalists were intransigent themselves over the five demands that led to the hunger strikes in the first place. But you know what? That’s neither here nor there. It’s ancient history now, or it should be. By God if the Queen of England can lay a wreath in remembrance of those who fought for Irish independence, then I can move on from Gerry Adams with an open mind and seek my answers elsewhere!
Up the Wee Six!
Tiocfaidh ár lá!
“…and a partridge in a pear tree.”
