Where Hope and History Rhyme

Seamus Heaney is an acclaimed and beloved Irish poet. Joe Biden, in his first speech as President-Elect, quoted this line from his poem “The Cure of Troy”. As you may have read in The Guardian article I reposted, it was not the first time Biden uttered the line, Mary Robinson and then Bill Clinton also lifted up these precious words by Heaney when speaking of the Irish conflict.

Let’s sit with these words for a moment:

And Hope and History Rhyme

Positive change comes when individuals, groups or countries open to possibility and let go of blind resistance and of resentment of “the other”. As Joe said “the opposition” is not the enemy. I would add from years of facilitating change and resolving conflict, two other aspects: Assume positive intent and drop the self-righteous anger. If you find yourself preferring to be right than preferring to have conditions improve, then guess what? You are perpetuating the problem.

Lots of stuff flies over Facebook and other social media.  That part that frosts me the most is when people post accusations about those with differing views. For example, at the very minimum, we all know that not all Trump supporters are racists; not all Biden supporters are socialists. How do we know? Because we have friends and neighbors who voted for the other guy. It is that simple. Next time, you are tempted to assume negative intent or ignorance of a group, think first of someone you know who identifies with that group, someone you like and even respect. Do you truly believe that of the individual?

What was so challenging in the Northern Irish Troubles was the fact that everyone on each side knew of a loved one or neighbor who had been killed or injured during the years of conflict. Talk about getting beyond fear and anger. School children in Belfast literally walked to school on opposite sidewalks to “their own” schools, often hurling rocks if not just insults to one another. Ironic now to remember a coalition of mothers for peace and a program to bring Belfast Catholic and Protestant children to the US for the summer were catalysts for change. At the time, many in this country could not believe that  people of Ireland were so divided. We can learn a lot from how far Northern Ireland has come.

Leadership is also key to holding on to hope and mobilizing efforts to seize the moments that history gives us to affect change. Sometimes it is seeing an opening and taking the risk to move into it. Other times, it is creating that opening. Seamus Heaney uses the famous Trojan War story as the context for his poem and his lived experience in Northern Ireland for his wisdom. If he were still here today, I believe he would use his extraordinary voice to urge us to support Hope in this historic moment.