And finally…

Usually this is the point when news bulletins and political commentaries end on a pithy note; a quip or unusual story to raise a smile.

But, the headline here is more important.

We sincerely hope, but fearfully doubt, that the senseless, stupid and unnecessary murder of Kevin McDaid in Coleraine will finally shake the population to decide that sectarianism is a waste of time and a waste of life.

Sure, the politicians were unanimous in condemnation, as they were over the recent murders of the two soldiers and a police officer.

All sides would do well to remember that when any of us are cut we bleed red. When any of us are bruised the marks are black and blue. When our bones are broken the cracks do not sound like party tunes or rebel songs. When our children are born they don’t bawl out chants of ancient division. When we take pleasure in our families, or mourn a passing, we do so in basically the same way.

And finally, we are the same. Genetics, DNA, hereditary traits, bodily components…these are all made the same.

Politics is the art of making real the desires and wishes of the populace. It is the art of the achievable. It is the art of compromise. It is the art of striving to achieve an end.

Those that hail sectarianism and peddle paranoia towards the ‘other side’ will never understand that in the end we will all face the same fate.

There is no victory in death. There is no victory in murder.

Only in peace can we understand that victory is never as important as taking part in a process to enable and support each and every citizen without exception, without exclusion.

The killers will never understand the dignity and compassion of Mrs McDaid or the widow of Constable Stephen Carroll. That is because they have neither dignity nor compassion.

And finally, when they realise this defect in their make up, the killing may come to an end.