Hi °C | Lo °C I read with interest the interview with Lord Alderdice by Brian Rowan (Belfast Telegraph, April 7). Within it, a lot was said which I could agree with. Yet it was his question, 'who is the truth process for?' that caught my attention.
This question needs to be addressed as the way we deal with it, I believe, will impact on many issues in the time ahead.
There is the political reasoning for dealing with such, but, more importantly, there are the 'real lives' that our recent past has affected.
Party politics on the matter cannot be allowed to ascend above the healing of our citizens. There are, of course, those who are at the forefront of seeking truth, and they and their families should be afforded such support. But there are many who are not visible, who battle day and daily, not for the truth of the 'war', but instead battle just to come to terms with the 'war', and its effects on their own lives. As a child who grew up in the heart of such a war, I can say that it changed me forever.
Yet it is for those growing up now that we have to teach the lessons of the past to ensure that it never again visits us in the future, while at the same time supporting and reaching out to those less visible who also were the victims of that past.
D
Belfast
