Never lose hope

Dear Editor,

If this letter helps even one person I’ll be very happy. Life can be difficult and sometimes very cruel. School-going children can be easily bullied, as I myself was, and it can play a heavy toll on them for the rest of their lives, unless they learn to deal with it.

While I loved my early teens and the friends I made through ‘the Brian O’Reilly gang’ and my many soccer pals, depression was never far away and eventually at the age of 23, I found myself in Sarsfield’s Court hospital. I made great friends there. That and the medication I received gave me a lift and helped somewhat.

I spent a number of years in England in my twenties - a lonely life - just sipped a few pints there. Back home in Ireland, I drank heavily from age 30 to 50 and couldn’t remember half of it. I was cranky every day. I was attending a doctor and was on tablets every day to prop me up. I broke my mother’s heart. When she died in 1996, I gave up the drink ‘on the spot’. I felt great and had loads of friends, but there was always something missing in my life.

I never had a girlfriend as such, but thankfully I have found, that when the right person comes into your life, you find the real key to happiness. I could almost sing it! In the words of Glen Campbell: ‘ Now I’ve got everything a man could ever need / I’ve got dreams to dream and songs to sing in the morning’.

Of course I attribute much of my now peaceful state to Mary our Blessed Mother. I have great faith in her and I pray to her every day and multiple times some days. I am also in awe of the various Marian shrines around the world that continue (up until this dreaded Covid hit at least) to attract millions of people each year.

So my advice to the young is: It’s human to have good days and bad days - one day good, another bad. But remember, there is always hope so be brave and carry on, ‘with hope in your heart’.

I look forward to a Covid-free life and a time when I can once again sit in The Long Bar and enjoy a simple cup of tea (thanks to its wonderful proprietor Imelda) or travel down the road to Conna, calling in on the way to say a prayer at the church in Coolagown and then on to say hello and have a chat with the charming Kay of The Winners Enclosure. Roll on sweet summertime!

Can I please send greetings to my niece Ellen in Monaco who recently gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, Cillian Thomas. He has a sister, Klara. Every good wish and blessing from Uncle Tom in Fermoy. I hope they will both play Gaelic and cheer Ireland on from the terraces! Yester-me, Yester-you, Yester-day! Yours sincerely, Tom McAuliffe, Cluain Dara, Fermoy.