Two quite separate events occurred this weekend to cheer me considerably about the stage we are at in our journey towards normality here. The first was a quite simple contact with the police. It was the location and context that were striking. I was driving a friend on a little tour around Belfast. My friend who used to live and work here was interested in seeing if much had changed since his last visit a few years ago. At the top of the Falls Road we were re-routed because the road was closed for a march. Nothing particularly unusual about that, except that police officers in the sort of modern police gear worn anywhere, were doing the stopping. It was obviously a low security situation and passers by were calmly going about their business. What a change from the days when the presence of a single police officer in this bastion of republicanism would have required the full riot/security protection, the safety of large numbers of police and army personnel; many armoured vehicles and a hostile and belligerent crowd to monitor events. Mind you we couldn't but help remark that this little snapshot of modern Belfast life was in sharp contrast to the obsolete and ugly Andersonstown police station, still there and menacingly towering above us as we turned the car.
In overall terms though Belfast looked calm and at peace with itself in the winter afternoon sunshine. We stopped briefly at Farset's new state of the art hotel/hostel overlooking the lake in the heart of the Springfield Road. We did a double take at the size and glamour of Dunnes new store on the Crumlin Road. If it hadn't been for the peace walls glinting in the sun, the city with no sign of either army or police patrols looked like any other provincial capital with a lot of resources currently going into redevelopment.
My second weekend positive experience was a listening one, so engaging in fact that it woke me from a much anticipated lie in. It was the Sunday morning discussion programme on local radio. A range of people involved in community work, some with a pastoral role, were discussing how to tackle sectarianism. Not a new subject for us to ponder on, but what was so very refreshing and noticeably different from the usual accusatory and adversarial language was the calibre of the participants' input. There was no 'whataboutery'. Everyone focused on his/her own need to examine and possibly change personal attitudes towards others.
There was a recognition that we all tend to see racism and prejudice in the other fella's attitude and approach while categorically denying in ourselves any fault whatsoever in that direction.
The presenter acknowledged the honesty and forthrightness of his studio guests but pondered whether a group of middle class well off people in powerful and influential jobs would be prepared to admit to the same traits.
There is an obvious answer to this question and that is to ask a representative group to come onto the programme and pose the exact same questions to them.
If that were to happen we might expect to hear from a few chief executives from public and large voluntary organisations.
Some of the permanent secretaries in the civil service powerful as they are should also be included along with a few business and church leaders.
My bet is that there would be polite but firm rejections, with the explanation perhaps that it was not appropriate for leaders in such positions to disclose personal views.
Therein lies the rub, I believe. Within our society there is a great hypocrisy of belief that only the poor troubled area have people with sectarian attitudes and behaviour. One of the many important points made in the discussion was that we all harbour prejudice about the 'other' side.
It was also acknowledged that exploring the issues was a complex process, not least because we all need the preconceptions of stereotypes as part of our armoury in the management of daily living. The line between a helpful stereotype and a discriminatory prejudice can be difficult to define. So too can the point when prejudice becomes harmful such as when it is used to attack or disadvantage others.
Ignorance and fear are often at play when this happens.
What for me was worth wakening up and listening was that the conversation was positively taking place, and that people who could easily have been at each other's throats were listening respectfully to each other.
It is impressive that people working and living in troubled areas are taking steady steps into the future and working together on what would have previously taboo subjects. And if they can do it the rest of us in our relatively trouble free prosperous cocoons can surely follow.
