I’m often asked what I mean by reconciliation. Well, what it doesn’t mean, and can’t be allowed to become, is a precondition for a border poll. That would run totally counter to not only the Good Friday Agreement but democracy itself.
I envisage a genuinely reconciled society as being peaceful, settled, and wholly at ease with itself and all of its component parts.
A society where a person would be judged not on skin colour, ethnicity, religion, politics, sexuality, gender, disability or any other surface difference(s), but solely on their character.
I recognise it will be a long, arduous, sometimes painful journey if we are ever to achieve that goal. And we should understand that, in one respect at least, the journey should never end. To adapt something once said about democracy: Reconciliation is a tender plant that we must nurture constantly, and forever be on our guard against those who would seek to destroy it.
Do I believe that everyone can be convinced to support and pursue this vision? Not at all. Too many people have too much to lose if our society is reconciled.
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