Sir, - I completed "1,000,000 Steps For True Peace" on May 13th. I walked from Howth to the Erris Peninsula, and from Mizen Head, Co Cork, to Fair Head, Co Antrim, a total distance of approximately 570 miles.
I found it a most satisfying experience as the weather was most favourable but the roads were very dangerous in parts due to the weight of traffic and absence of margins for pedestrians.
We know that the Good Friday Peace Agreement is presently at a very delicate stage and appears to be stalled over the issue of decommissioning.
I appeal on behalf of the voiceless - the young, the very young, the unborn and the generations to come - to the hard men and women who stand in the way of a peace agreement being ratified. Let us see more of the qualities displayed by Jesus Christ on the first Good Friday. Show more mercy and compassion to those who crave for a true peace. Have the courage to trust more. Have the courage to go the extra mile now for the sake of posterity. They will be eternally grateful to you if you show that extra bit of generosity.
God forbid that the current peace negotiations should end in failure. The road to this point of the peace negotiations has been a hard and difficult journey but how rewarding it will be if we enter the third millennium with an acceptable peace agreement in place - a peace agreement fair to everybody and not a threat to anybody of goodwill. Such an agreement would be a victory for all.
Enduring peace for the third millennium could be secured if those who are responsible for rearing the young were to plant seeds of love in the hearts and minds of their charges rather than the seeds of hate that sadly has often been the case in the past.
I take this opportunity of thanking all the kind and helpful people who assisted me on all stages of my journey for peace. -Yours, etc.,
Edmund Ashe, Peace Pilgrim. Glencar, Co Sligo.