When I think back to my classes last semester, a few common themes come to mind. One is the idea of shalom. Shalom means peace, but it means a deep state of goodness and correctness, that all is as it should be. Of course shalom is always mixed with other things in a fallen world, but that’s another story. Another recurring theme was Sabbath, taking time that is set apart. I won’t explain how these ideas fit into Microeconomics and Gospel, Church, and Culture here, but I was thinking about how Dr. Walters talked applied them in Wellness. He said that our bodies need rhythms, consistent cycles maximize efficiency while minimizing stresses. I don’t think I can explain it very well, but the point is that we all need rest sometimes.
After school ended, and I had finished all my final exams, I flew to Ireland with Dad where we met Andrew, who was finishing up the last few days of his internship. After we spent a few days exploring Dublin, my grandparents flew out with mom and the girls to meet us. Just before they arrived, it started snowing. Dad and I were on O’Connell street, a central street in Dublin’s shopping district, when huge fluffy flakes of snow started falling. I have told people that I think they are more like miniature snowballs than snowflakes. I think it’s fun to catch them on the back of my hand and watch them melt. The snow quickly covered the streets, and in a few hours Dublin was coated in a thick layer of white. Due to snow covered streets and holiday hours, most of Dublin was shut down, there was hardly any traffic, so we spent about a week seeing Dublin in an unusual snow covered state. Apparently, snow is very unusual in Ireland. The snow remained on the streets until it melted, so many people who regularly commuted into Dublin in their cars began taking public transportation and walking. I found it humorous that native Dubliners started asking us for directions. Fortunately, since we had been in the area for awhile, we were able to help them.
After about a week all together in Dublin, we rented a car and drove up to Belfast in Northern Ireland. I should mention that when I say a car, I mean a Renault Trafíc. I should also mention that the only other cars that we saw that were near its size were commercial and government vehicles. When we drove on the narrow curved roads (with 100 km/hr speed limits) near the coast we found out one reason why there weren’t a lot of big cars on the road. On the other hand, we did have to squeeze past some large charter busses on those narrow coastal routes. At one point (later on in southern Ireland) as we swerved to avoid a cone, the cars front left tyre went over the edge of the road and we were pulled into some mud on the side of the road. Unfortunately, Trafícs don’t have four-wheel drive and we could not quite get out of the mud. Almost as soon as we clicked the hazard lights on, a several cars pulled off ahead of us, and a group of men ranging from about 25 to 55 got out of their cars to see if they could help. After a few minutes we got the impression that they all knew each other. In fact after they pulled it out with a rope and a Cherokee, the ring leader came over and gave us some warnings and directions about the construction ahead, we noticed them all standing in a circle on the side of the road still talking as we drove off.
I think Belfast was my favorite part of Ireland. I really appreciated the history and personality of the city. It has been a fishing town, then a shipbuilding town. In fact, the Titanic was built there and I think
the Lucitania as well. In one shop we saw a t-shirt that showed a picture of the Titanic with the caption “Built by Irishmen, sunk by an Englishman.” If you know much Irish history, you know that Belfast has been the center of an age old struggle between loyalty to England and a desire for independence ever since southern Ireland separated from England to form the Republic of Ireland. Belfast’s dark memories are preserved in its sometimes intimidating political murals, it’s “peace walls” and battle scarred buildings. It’s industrial district stands mainly abandoned with giant ship building cranes that were hardly ever used. A new museum is being constructed for the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking in 2012, and Belfast’s downtown area is very nice and urbanized in a classic European way, which shows the way Belfast is rapidly recovering from its troubled days.
I might write about our last week in the south of Ireland some other time but I think this post is long enough already. I do wish I could have seen all of you over break. But since I couldn’t say it in person, Happy New Year to you all. May your days be merry and bright, and may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
