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Terry from Derry: Resolutions
- iIrish Admin
- December 26, 2024
- Edited 18 hours ago
Table of Contents
By Terry Boyle
It’s the time of the year again; a new beginning, a chance to make some realistic resolutions if I can. I might endeavour to stop bashing the Orange Man but that’s hopelessly unrealistic.
Maybe I should refrain from wishing the constituency who voted for him suffer the consequences of their choice, but that would be asking too much too. When it comes to politics, I doubt if I’ll ever shut my mouth up, especially when I see the actions of a convicted felon unfold in the most self-serving ways.
One thing that I have noticed is how those who worship at his shrine seem to hold the Democrats to a greater higher moral code than their lord and master. Biden pardons his son and they bleat about it, whereas the Orange Man pardons his crooked friends and they say nothing.
It seems that Republicans expect him to be a swindler, and a peddler of lies. It appears they’re quite happy with his lack of morals, so long as he gets them what they want.
I’m disappointed with the Dems who scorn Biden for pardoning his son. I want to tell them to grow a pair.
When dealing with a capricious monomaniac, you need to fight a just war. After all, popes in the past didn’t mind incorporating a bit of just war theology when it suited them. In such cases, it was deemed righteous to use a lesser evil to obliterate a greater evil.
Ask Saint Augustine, he was a good man for doling out that sort of inspirational theology. And, of course, we have those Jesuit scholars in the 70s who promoted the idea of liberation theology. In the face of true injustice, they believed you needed to get down and dirty to protect the lives of the innocent.
There were even a few of those clerics who supported the actions of the IRA during the Troubles. Bombing and shooting the great English tyrant was all well and good with God. After all, the God of the Old Testament seemed to favour one side against the other.
When it comes to us all being the family of God, he clearly has favourites, if you have the right theology. So, it seems we have the church’s blessing on attacking the Orange Man’s policies of supporting the rich and wealthy at the expense of the poor. We should be more worried about being silent during these times.
Clearly, the Orange Man is deranged and should be institutionalized, but since we’re all a little crazy at the moment, no excrement has yet to hit the fan. But once it does, let’s see how his followers feel then. But there I go again, this is why I should never make resolutions I’m going to break, almost as soon as I make them.
Taking the Pledge
I remember when I was 15, and it was time for the priests to sell us on the idea of abstinence from alcohol, or as it was known then, ‘taking the pledge.’ Why 15? At the age of 9 during your confirmation you promised to abstain from alcohol until you were 21.
So, why the need to approach you at 15? Obviously, we had forgotten our original pledge, and needed a refresher, a refresher that was to last a lifetime.
From my perspective, the strategy was a lost cause. At 15, you’re hardly going to turn down a chance to enjoy yourself by trying out a few things.
But the pressure was on to take the pledge, and of course, you were hardly going to disappoint the priest and your teacher. We kept our pledge for a whole week before going across the border to drink whiskey.
The moral of that story is to remind myself that any attempt to make unrealistic resolutions will only end up at the bottom of a glass. It’s better to content myself with accepting that given the chance to air my views of the Orange Man, I will happily do it
In doing so, I have had a bit of backlash to some of my articles. It seems that my critics think me bitter and angry, without wondering why. One wants to criticize my arguments against the Orange Man, without commenting on points that I raise.
When teaching literature, you make the distinction between what is a critique and what is a review. One finds evidence within the text to prove a point, the other requires no proof whatsoever. However, I must congratulate the observant reader who determined that I’m angry and bitter.
If this person knew me, they would know that this is not my usual disposition. Generally, I’m affable, even likable to some. There are few things that rankle me, and those have to do with injustice and political corruption.
It’s almost impossible for me not to want to rip of the blinkers off those who voted for the Orange Man, and say, see him for who he is. He’s a convicted felon, a womanizer who is guilty of libeling women he’s abused. He’s a liar (try fact checking him, and see how he cringes), and he’s a racist.
Does that sound angry and bitter? I don’t think it does. It’s hard to believe that unmasking the would-be-king as a charlatan to be anything more than a true assessment of his dubious character. If I’m to make any resolution that I have any hope of keeping, it’s to continue to remind myself of the truth and not believe the lies.
Terry from Derry: Resolutions
December 26, 2024
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Terry Boyle
*Terry is a retired professor now living in Southern California. Originally from Derry, Northern Ireland, in 2004 Terry took up a position at Loyola University, Chicago where he taught courses on Irish and British literature. Apart from teaching, Terry has had several plays produced and has recently been included in The Best New British and Irish Poets 2019 - 2021 (published by The Black Spring Press). He can be reached at: [email protected]
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