Paul's turn for a Rant

Over the weekend there was a shooting in Dooradoyle where a 28yr old fella was shot dead walking home after the Ireland/Canada game. He was captain of the Garryowen 3rds and from the area. The guards are saying that it was probably a case of mistaken identity and the hit-men thought he was a member of the feuding families.

Now up until now I have been fairly blase about this whole 'Family Feud' thing in Limerick. It has never really affected me and although I do have relatives in some of the areas most of them have nothing to do with it. I have always been of the opinion that as long as they were just killing each other then there was no real problem. This shooting has changed all that though.

When I heard it I actually started feeling very angry. Partly because of what happened but also because of what was going to happen i.e nothing. Perhaps the people who did it will get caught, but I don't hold out much hope. And even if they do, they will spend a few years in prison, make a few contact, learn a few tricks and be back out unchanged men. Treating the symptoms just does not appear to be working. Reading the papers or Limerickblogger.ie I am already seeing the calls for politicians heads to rolls or for extraordinary measures to be taken. While it is all understandable does it really help? It is much easier to be outraged and demand someone else actually does something that to actually do something yourself. Thing is though, people don't want to actually have to do anything to stop this, complaining is much easier.

Why was this guy shot? The obvious answer is that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's true but why was there a shooting in the first place? This feud is about a lot of things, history, territory, power and money but mostly about money. And where do they get their money from, a bit of racketeering, maybe some extortion but mostly drugs, this shooting was about drugs. And that in my mind is how ordinary people can help stop all this shit going on in the city. It is the money coming from middle-class casual drug users that is funding these gangs.

There is no such thing as a harmless drug. People who use coke, pills or any type of weed, however infrequently, or who support the use of them have absolutely no moral right whatsoever to condemn or despair at this shooting. The path might be convoluted but the cost of gun that killed this innocent 28 yr old or the payment made to the hit-men that did it was paid for by the joint you took a drag of, that line you snorted, the single pill you took.

Nostalgic and Philosophical Ramblings

Just realised that 'Debate Pt II' down below was my 200th post and written almost 4 and a half years after my first one back in Department of Foreign Affairs. That's a long time by any standards though. I was tempted a few times to just give up on this, I think my record was almost 6 months with no updates at one stage. Glad I kept it though, reading back through it is always great fun, if bittersweet at times. I am no longer the fresh-faced 21 year old that started it, have travelled, lived and worked an awful lot since then. I was in a pissy mood about one thing or another a few days ago but then I just thought to myself, 'Fuck it Paul, you moved to the other side of the world, you relied solely on yourself for 9 months, you have criss-crossed the continent of South American twice, don't let something as trivial as this irritate you'. It actually worked and it got me thinking about the travelling again. Now I know most of you must be sick of me bringing it up but that Year away was possibly the most defining thing I have ever done in my life and I don't see anything coming close to it in the near future. I am just listening to a playlist made up of all the songs, mostly kiwi, that i associate with the trip away. None that famous, and some are actually quite crap but all remind me of certain times, people or places that I met or experienced.

A year is an awful long time to make memories and I have thousands that I find myself just sitting back and dwelling on, especially at times like this when i have an essay to write. Just wimple things like walking into the kitchen of the hostel after the gym with my rolls, protein shake and scrambled eggs. I can vividly remember the smell of the kitchen, the taste of the food, the fatigue from the gym, the comfort of knowing I had nothing really to do for the day. It might seem strange, considering how banal the memory is but that's actually one I come back to an awful lot, I was incredibly happy and content at that time, everything was going well and I did not have a care in the world. Looking back through it I also re-read a lot from the time I went to Maine on my own that summer. Even though there was several pretty extra-ordinary, exciting things that happened during that Summer there are others that stick out the most, drifting around on a lie-lo with lacy in the middle of an abandoned quarry lake, eating Ben & Jerries with Suzanne out in the barn watching Kung-fu movies.

So I suppose its just going to keep happening more and more as we get older (and we are getting older, something last weekend showed me) ie, the constant accumulation of memories; good times, bad times, opportunities missed, opportunities seized, friends made, lost, rediscovered. So for that reason I am going to be keeping this blog, and I think that others should restart theirs. What seems trivial today is could be a treasured memory tomorrow.