The Troubles in Northern Ireland started when I was 12.
Heh... and that wasn't even really the
start, that was a re-stirring after a long lull.
The news from N. Ireland has been steadily-increasingly hopeful for a few years now, so I can believe this might be, if not
the end, then a major landmark along the way. At one time I was convinced that there was too much of a culture of conflict and hostility for there to be much hope. From what I've seen, the impetus of change came from way down in the grassroots - women sick of seeing their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons injured, killed, or jailed; teenagers who'd made friends across the orange/green line and didn't want to fight those friends, etc - I've deeply admired those grassroots activists for some time now.
Sunflower