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DURING AN GORTA Mór, when a million of us died and a million more fled to the sea on the coffin ships, strangers half a world away – strangers who had nothing themselves – rallied to our aid.
In the depths of Black ’47, the worst year of our Great Famine, the Choctaw Nation gathered in Scullyville, Oklahoma and decided that they had to help the starving Irish. They raised the equivalent in today’s money of about a million dollars.
These were people who had just endured incredible hardship and who were living in dire poverty themselves. Less than two decades earlier, the Choctaws had become – under Irish-American President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act – the first Native Americans to be forcibly removed from their lands. Through the worst winter on record and through a cholera epidemic, some 17,000 Choctaws – men, women and children – were forced to walk the 500 mile Trail of Tears to Oklahoma. As many as 6,000 died en route.
To quote choctawnation.com, “Only sixteen years had passed since the Choctaws themselves had faced hunger and death on the first Trail of Tears, and a great empathy was felt when they heard such a similar story coming from across the ocean… These noble Choctaw people, who had such meagre resources, gave all they could (to help) others in greater need.”
’600 people pitiful figure’
I’ve been thinking a lot about the kindness of the Choctaw Nation this past week. I was very upset – as were you, I imagine – at the sight of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi’s little body lying dead on a Turkish beach. I have small people I love in my life and I can’t stop thinking that, but for the grace of God or fate or chance, they might well have faced Aylan’s fate.
Aylan drowned with his five-year-old brother Galip and his mother Rehan. His father, Abdullah, survived. They had been fleeing their Syrian hometown of Kobani, which has been besieged by ISIS. The day after he lost his family, a distraught Abdullah returned home, saying that all he wanted to do now was to bury his family and find peace. I cannot imagine –and neither, I suspect, can you – the pain that poor man must feel and the hell he must be in to think that walking back into a warzone will bring him peace.
The image of Aylan flashed across the world and it made us all catch our breath. European leaders – most of whom until now had seemed to be hoping the refugee crisis on their doorstep would just go away – struggled to respond. Our Taoiseach asked how anyone could not be moved by the sight of Aylan “washed up like driftwood” but did his best to avoid committing to take in any more refugees than the Irish Government’s initial, pitiful figure of 600 people over two years.
“We should look after our own first”
I believe Ireland is not doing nearly enough to help in what the journalist Philip Boucher-Hayes has called “our 1939 moment”. Yes, of course we can all be justifiably very proud of the Irish Navy’s great humanitarian work in the Mediterranean. Thus far, they have rescued more than 6,000 people. Surely we have no finer ambassadors.
Likewise, Irish Aid points out that, since 2012, Ireland has contributed more than €100 million in humanitarian aid for those affected by war and violence in the Middle East and on the Horn of Africa.
Accepting that, I doubt that anyone with a functioning heart or brain would disagree that Ireland has to do a lot more. Of course – because RTÉ is obsessed with “balance” – the Identity Ireland lads have already been rolled out, blinking into the sunlight. Compassion being something that needs to be balanced out, apparently.
Despite the usual cries of “We should look after our own first!” from those often the first to step over “our own”, the outpouring of support from Irish people over the past week shows we are better than that. Just 24 hours after it launched its Pledge A Bed campaign, Uplift.ie reported that it had received over 6,000 offers to take in refugees.
Politicians are survivors
In the week since Aylan Kurdi’s death woke the world and shamed us all, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said Ireland may now take 1,800 refugees. The Taoiseach then suggested that the figure will be higher.
On Sunday, the Tánaiste, Joan Burton, went so far as to say there should be no upper limit on the number of people we should take in. Politicians are survivors. They don’t last long if they can’t tell which way the wind is blowing. I think the Irish people are – as usual – miles ahead of their leaders.
Germany is taking in at least 800,000 refugees right now. Were Ireland proportionally as welcoming, we would take in 40,000. Yes, Germany has demographic reasons for their generosity and, yes, they are the EU’s richest country. The ghosts of the Holocaust are clearly not far from their thoughts either but just look at the joyous faces of German citizens as they welcome refugees.
That’s how it feels to be the good guys. That’s how it feels to do the right thing.
“We have to decide at certain times in our life to do what is right”
Last Friday, President Higgins – not for the first time – spoke from the heart and gave us that rarest thing in Irish life – leadership. Speaking to RTÉ, he said “(T)hese are people who are fleeing from persecution. These are people whose children are being lost at sea.
These are people who are being smuggled, people seeking to escape from slavery.
“We have to decide at certain times in our life to do what is right and what is right is to come to the assistance of those who like our own ancestors were being lost at sea.”
If you’re upset at Aylan’s death, if you think Ireland should give shelter to more than just 600 refugees, then please tell your TDs.
There’s nothing new under the sun. Famine, war, poverty and exodus are as old as time. At our worst, humanity is a brutish, selfish species. The only redemption we have is compassion.
In Ireland’s darkest hour, kindness came to us from strangers. We should remember the example of our Choctaw brothers and sisters and, as President Higgins said, we have to decide to do what is right.
Donal O’Keeffe is a writer, artist and columnist for TheJournal.ie. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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what a load of BS , I have not seen a nun under 80 in the last 10 years. my experience with Harvey Norman was I left the shop after being robbed,
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: chuckling.
@Dáithí Ó Raghallaigh: are ye serious?
Ye havent seen one in ten years?
Temple bar was full of them last night.
Fishnet tights and all.!
@Gerry Fallon: @Barra O Brien: Have you been in HN lately its a bit like an experience with Mrs Doyle , will you have a bit of insurance with that, ah! you will, go on, go on……
Have you been in HN lately its a bit like an experience with Mrs Doyle , will you have a bit of insurance with that, ah! you will, go on, go on……
Typical click bait headline in Journal. Priests and nuns mentioned first. The vast majority of them no longer wear identifiable clerical gear. Mr. Neary criticises store managers for not processing their cases properly for court. He should produce the percentages of priests, nuns, neighbours, and school friends if he insists on correctness, then we will see how good he is at his job.
@John Campbell: I did not take it as a literal statement. It was just a colourful way of making the point that anyone can succumb to the temptation if at a low point in life.
@John Campbell: Its alright, they can pray for forgiveness anyway and its all good, thats the way it works isn’t it?
@John Campbell: or indeed name them and we’ll check. Be nice to sue him and his company. An apology to nuns priests would be appropriate. Why not say accountants solicitors gardai. These are not exempted from having a thief among them.
@John Campbell: don’t be so sensitive now. It’s like the it could happen to a bishop phrase
@Tony Daly: ah so it wasn’t a literal statement. In other words, he was lying.
The man is an idiot.
@Tom Burke: but if he caught just one nun and one priest. That would make it true yes? And people shoplift for many reasons as we have been told.
@lavbeer: no, he would need more than one of each because he used plural.
Did he catch a nun or somebody dressed as a nun?
I think he made a stupid comment and he knows it. I’m sure he would be called aside for it.
@John Campbell: and when did we EVER hear of nuns and priests stealing or otherwise breaking the law I ask !
@John Campbell: I challenge you to write the headline the journal should have used.
Those nuns habits are very handy.You could hide a 50″plasma Tv under them and walk out.
@Gerry Fallon: Shop lifting is a terrible habit for a nun….
@Nick McCartan: yeah nuns get into bad habits..
“I spend half my life trawling social media, looking for items that could’ve been stolen from Harvey Norman,” When someone comes out with sihte like that it’s hard to take everything else they say seriously.
Nuns and priests with 60,70 or 80 previous convictions………hmmmm!
@Ian Moloney: more likely for assault on children
Retailers present their products as accessibly and invitingly as possible so as to generate sales. That involves the risk of shoplifting. The temptation is presented.
Retailers could do far more to secure their products and to prevent theft in the first place.
@Tony Daly: personal accountability just not in the Irish psyche is it? The government are representative of this.
@lavbeer: prevention is better than detection.
Some medical conditions and even treatments result in kleptomania. Depression sometimes manifests in kleptomaniac especially in the case of post menopausal women, some anti depressant medication compounds the risk.
Then certian anti Parkinson’s medications addressing dopamine insufficiency will cause kleptomania.
There are poor people who are seduced by the attractiveness of the product, know the can’t afford it, but want it partly to alleviate their deprived lives.
There are also criminal gangs which spot lax prevention security and the ease of access to product and see an easy way of making money.
Our society is built on consumerism. With lax prevention, there will always be those who take consumerism too far.
Tempt and entice people. They will respond.
@Tony Daly: yeah, I mean what is the retailer thinking trying to maximize sales.
Tony that’s probably one of the most ridiculous comments I’ve seen on here and that’s saying something.
@Jane: retailers charge an extra margin in order to reflect theft. Theft can be prevented. Retailers should not use scarce Garda and Court resources over preventable and avoidable problems.
@Tony Daly: You’re on fire this morning, Tony. A masterclass in shit talk. It’s the retailers’ fault for putting merchandise on display, is it? Postmenopausal thieving wimmin can’t be blamed though, it’s the tablets!
@George Roche: it requires thought and that is not your forte.
@Tony Daly: I am just reading through court cases now where the defence solicitor brought something like that up and the judge accepted it.
No personal responsibility or accountability in Tonyland.
@Tony Daly:
Complete and utter bs
It’s everyone else’s fault.
@Tony Daly: I’m not trying to say you haven’t put a lot of thought into your position, just that your thoughts are rubbish.
@Tony Daly: sorry but your comment is just rubbish .. people rob because they want the product but don’t want to pay the price for it . Why not lock all the products in cages so nobody will be tempted . .bit like women should cover up so that men won’t be tempted to rape them ..
@Tony Daly: Sorry, that’s ridiculous. Most people know right from wrong and if they can’t afford impulse buying, they don’t steal. This man sees more dishonest people than the average person because of his job – it doesn’t mean that most people are like that. He points out himself that these are reoffenders stealing for the thousandth time. It’s not an argument for locking everything up. It’s the thieves he wants locked up. Everyone else wants to see what they’re buying, otherwise you might as well take a chance online and be forever returning items.
Worked in HN for 4 1/2 years, the amount of shoplifters we caught was ridiculous, but it’s easier to let them go
@Barra O Brien: many priests or nuns did you catch?
How about ex Taoiseach or Presidents?
Ya got to watch then.
@Barra O Brien: …..Have you been in HN lately its a bit like an experience with Mrs Doyle , will you have a bit of insurance with that, ah! you will, go on, go on……
Can this guy refer us to one case, just one, where ‘Hardly Normal’ (I like that) secured a conviction against a priest or a nun. It is the kind of thing that would make headlines.
Nah, didn’t think so.
The man is a clown.
Why is everything in harvey Norman so expensive. Rip off.
If Harvey Norman actually stopped the Rediculous repeated advertising of their so called weekly sale and employed more security instead they might make money. I’d love to see their advertising bill.
@James O’Brien:
And you just advertised it again for them! For free.
@P.J. Nolan: pointless comment of the day.
Nuns and priests! Small time stuff.
Ever see a flock of Bishops on the rampage.
@Tony Daly: only on father Ted.
If Mr Neary hadn’t mentioned priests, nuns and neighbours his speech would never have made it to the media.
lol – as if nuns & priests are supposed to be pillars of societies. They’re the biggest criminal gangs in the country – killing babies & raping kids, then covering it up. Shoplifting is nothing to them.
Ask Lorraine Higgins if this is true she is the head of Public Affairs and Communication,Retail Excellence. She is also a failed Politician.
Many years ago a young woman flying back from her first trip to New York got talking to a bald-headed young priest on an Aer Lingus flight. She was worried and anxious, and confided she had purchased a new-fangled curling tongs in America, and didn’t want to declare it to Customs and pay heavy duties. ”My child, I will assist you, insasmuch as I will not lie but will only tell the truth if asked.” said the priest. At that he took the tongs, nipped to the loo, and shoved the whole thing down the front of his trousers under his cassock.
Going through the Green Channel, he was challenged by Customs ‘Anything to declare?’ to which he replied. ”Above the waist, nothing but my genius”. To which the amused Customs officer shot back: ”And below the waist?”
”It is nothing but a trifle, a thing of interest to women perhaps but of little use to me.”
”Fair enough and on ya go Father.”
Would you like insurance with your €25 toaster?
If anything happens, if you drop it walking out the door or anything happens we will give you a full replacement, no questions.
It will cost you only €5 / month for 2 years.
Most big stores will have security managers who are trained to deal with courts . .
Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane are signed up to do a movie about it. It’s called nuns on the run 2.
They were told not to open. An outlet so close to the Vatican
Neighbours of the nuns, security guards or the store?
The issue I have is why would Priests and Nuns be singled out. They don’t have a monopoly on morality. Ordinary people especially struggling people who have Christian beliefs are much more genuine when it comes to morals than any Priest or Nun.
Who gives a f##k….what a stupid story.
Rubbish show the proof Nuns and priests were caught thieving? more hate towards Christians
have your say