REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE METHODIST COLLEGE, BELFAST FRIDAY, 23RD APRIL 1999
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE METHODIST COLLEGE, BELFAST FRIDAY, 23RD APRIL 1999
Thank you, Dr. Mulryne for your kind words of welcome. I very much appreciate this opportunity to come back to the Methodist College – ‘Methody’, as it is known – and I would like to thank the Current Affairs society for inviting me.
You have much to be proud of here. This school has a well deserved reputation for academic excellence, with many distinguished alumni who have carved successful careers in every walk of life. It is almost a cliché to refer to the importance of education. But I know from personal experience how valid that truism is – how for people of my generation, education held the key which opened up new doors, new vistas, new possibilities. It transformed the landscape of our lives and our minds, creating the ‘intelligences brightened and unmannerly as crowbars’ that Seamus Heaney has spoken of.
I have seen again and again in my role as President of Ireland the transformative nature of that process, the way it has unlocked – is still unlocking - extraordinary energy and potential in people. It is most especially evident among those who are most marginalised and disadvantaged within society. Those whom some would write off as incapable of being taught, incapable of learning. And yet, once given the opportunity, the self-confidence, the encouragement – so many people and communities are capable of blossoming, of utilising talents they hardly knew they possessed, and all because they have finally been given the education, the assertiveness, the self-esteem and the fluency of language to make their case and their way in life.
Nowhere is the power of language in all its facets – as a weapon, as a defence, as a means of convincing or condemning, of welcoming or excluding – more important than here in Northern Ireland. It is a power that this school, with a Current Affairs society that is held in such high regard – clearly recognises and values. Yet, to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw’s remarks about England and America, it often seems as if Northern Ireland consists of two communities divided by a common language. So often, in the past words have been wielded to wound, to destroy, to insult and alienate. This is not to say we should be silent. Silence, or a refusal to speak, does nothing to redeem past hurts. Rather, it allows the toxin of hatred that for so long has poisoned the heart and soul of Northern Ireland, to continue to fester.
It is therefore important to speak out, even when it is painful. We have seen from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa that truth can very painful indeed. But it creates the possibility of mutual communication, of each side understanding that the other has suffered in ways that are not so different, and of gradually coming to an acceptance and a respect for difference as well as an appreciation of how much they have in common.
That is only possible if the communication genuinely is two-way, if people are prepared to listen as well as to speak; to seek the nuances behind what the other is saying. Of assessing not only what it is they want to say, but also the possible impact of their words on others. In school and college debates, the objective is to score points, to convince, to win. The other side must therefore lose. When the same principle is applied to politics, particularly in Northern Ireland, there can be no winners, for no advancement is possible without consensus.
Politicians are sometimes criticised for using language that means all things to all people. But sometimes progress lies as much in the process as the product, in the act of dialogue as in the finished text. Sometimes, too, language can be far more than a channel of communication. The language of compromise can not only express our thoughts and actions, but also help shape them. Some might say that the language of inclusiveness, reconciliation and progress is no substitute for lack of action. But it can create the space which allows action to follow.
With the exceptional record of this school behind you, I have no doubt that many of you here today will be among the future leaders of Northern Ireland – in politics, in the professions, in the social, religious and community life of Northern Ireland. This school is giving you a sound basis for whatever direction life brings you – not just in academic terms, but by instilling a sense within each one of you of your potential to build a better society. Your potential to forge bridges of hope, of tolerance, of respect, of reconciliation across the chasm of mistrust which still exists. Your potential to have the courage to challenge received truths by asking ‘why’ and to respond to change by asking ‘why not’? Your potential to challenge sectarianism or gender bias, wherever you hear it or feel it – to denounce it for the poison it is. The more you speak up, the smaller will be the space colonised by hatred and contempt. Your silence can mean consent. In this school with its Christian and co-educational ethos – with its embrace of every side of the Community, you are especially well equipped to be confident, assertive leaders of the new culture of consensus we are all trying to build.
That potential is evident not just in your interest in current affairs, but in the ethos of this school of encouraging the rounded development of every aspect of the individual. Art and music, in particular, have a powerful capacity to build those bridges I have spoken of, to communicate where language has failed, to bring people together. Your achievements on this front are remarkable, as is clear from the art exhibition which I have had the pleasure of seeing and in the success of the school in winning the Sainsbury Choir of the Year award last year. I look forward to hearing the choir in a few minutes.
You are fortunate in having such a dedicated team of teaching staff, the encouragement of parents and excellent facilities. They in turn have been rewarded by the palpable enthusiasm which you show for learning and self development.
Let me finish by thanking you all once again for inviting me here today. I wish the school and all of you personally, every success in the future.