So,
Gerry, it has come to this. Not a lot when all is
considered, nothing that didn't already exist in
some form since the creation of the State. Constitutional
Nationalism has been a part of Six County politics
since forever. Joe Devlin, Eddie McAteer and then
the S.D.L.P, now Sinn Fein. Not a lot to see so
many people dead for, hardly a resounding victory,
not even a resounding compromise. I'd say you were
fairly whipped.
I
knew you way back when. I thought I knew you. How
far you moved from the Republican position over
the years has astounded me. How were you lured down
the path you conned others to tread behind you?
Was it the interfering cleric or the flattery of
the Americans; did it go to your head, did the ego
soar and at last did you see the possibility that
you might be somebody?
I
ask none of this in a malicious way but as an observer
of the human condition and the individual.
Could
it be that least attractive of motives, self promotion.
I have watched you carry far more than your share
of coffins, I watched as you embarrassingly elbowed
people aside inorder that you might put a shoulder
under Sean Mac Stiofain (my Chief of Staff). This
was a man whose ruination within the Republican
Movement you were party to. I call that hypocracy.
Was it just a photo opportunity?
Then
there is the comfortable lifestyle. You didn't do
it for a couple of houses and a good suit on your
back surely? I'm am all curiosity.
The
things we have in common from our past, long past,
are often in my mind. Now that it is all over bar
the final destruction of the weapons I look forward
to the freedom to lay bare my experiences unfettered
by codes now redundant.
This
is the only freedom left to me and those Republicans
of like mind.
I
should wish you well, Gerry, but my heart is too
heavy to feel it and I cannot be a hypocrite. I
have no regrets. My trust was abused.
