From The International Herald Tribune:
Payback time darkens Ireland's view of E.U.Just about the time Ireland joined what was then the European Economic Community in 1973, Fintan O'Toole ran with the other teenagers around his public housing complex in Dublin, joyously reciting, ''We are into Europe!'' Playing on the title of a popular television show, they were celebrating the riches in European agricultural support that would now begin flowing to Irish farmers.
It was the start of a European journey that over the next three and a half decades delivered a transformational boon to the mainly rural economy of Ireland, a small country long overshadowed by Britain. With it came a brasher new identity and a new sense of political independence, as Ireland took its place in the constellation of European countries.
How things have changed: Last weekend, Mr. O'Toole spoke at a rally that urged Ireland to reject an €85 billion bailout program, equivalent to $112 billion, backed by the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, calling instead for Ireland to repudiate much of its debt to international banks. The rally's setting, on O'Connell Street in Dublin outside the General Post Office, said it all: It was the center of Ireland's 1916 rebellion against British rule, now redolent of the backward-looking and helpless gloom that has descended on Ireland since it became the latest victim of the European debt crisis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/weekinreview/05bowley.html
Will not time reveal the lasting importance of friends and mutual respect? Be kind to those who think well of you and those you know and try to add positive elements to your world. Promote peace in your heart and sunshine in the minds of those around you by your own good works. Elevate the level of discussion by thinking less of the issues and more of how you can reduce the tension of stress that arises with honest disagreement. Relax by breathing more deeply and consciously.