Ballycastle

On our second day at Corrymeela we woke up to green grass. It was great to finally see Ireland's green fields and the Atlantic Ocean right outside our windows. We started out the day with Paul Hutchinson, a therapist at Corrymeela. We discussed the peace process, as well as how challenging it can be to accurately understand people we know limited information about them. We took time to consider who is on the outside and what effects that has on those both on the inside and outside. Paul made an interesting point in saying communities define themselves by who they exclude, not who they include. This idea furthered my consideration of how people of Northern Ireland have divided themselves, and how these walls and barriers are hindering their path to peace. In considering the concept of "the other," I wrote a poem about the divisions we have seen in our journey across Ireland thus far.

The Other

The other.
Who is he?
On the other side
Of the wall-
The river-
The world.

Why is he the other?
A Church,
a flag.
Is it birth-
Or a choice?
His past-
Or maybe it's mine.

Will he always be the other?
Are the wounds too deep to heal-
The scars still too raw-
The past still the present.
How do we move forward
When I, too,
Am the other.

We loved Ballycastle and head to Belfast.