We can’t let political instability drag us back to the harrowing violence of our troubled past

I HAVE just spent a couple of very harrowing hours watching the new documentary based on the book Lost Lives, which recounts some of the 3,700 human stories behind the statistics of the Northern Ireland Troubles.

It was deeply moving and featured quite graphic images, but no worse than much of the daily evening news I watched as a young teen.

From back when I was a little girl in primary school (1968) until my third child was five years old (1998), I — like many other folk on this island and in the UK — witnessed the shocking loss and waste of young (and not so young) lives, from all sides of the conflict — both innocent victims and perpetrators alike.

The film featured beautiful, breathtaking images of cityscapes, mountains, rivers, ocean waves, birds and animals, interspersed between the horror stories of children, older people, soldiers and policemen dying, voiced by many wellknown Northern Ireland actors.

I watched until the end and was left with the overwhelming conviction that everyone in Northern Ireland should be encouraged, if not forced, to watch this film, especially our so-called elected representatives — the MLAs who have failed us so badly — local councillors, educators, people of all ages, Boris

Johnson and all those bent on breaking up the union with the EU.

Just stop now and let us all reflect on what we are doing to perpetuate the instability, or what we are not doing to heal the divisions in society.

By constantly taking sides and condemning the ‘other’, by celebrating our culture in a way that upsets, we offend other people.

For the sake of the future, my children and yours and those yet to come, now is the time to change and try to do things better.

ATTRACTA WALSH

Belfast