Sir, - Would it not be a great triumph of the spirit, as well as a brilliant tactical move, if on the occasion of the next Orange march in the North, the Catholic population came out, not to shout protests and hurl missiles. but rather to cheer the marchers on with evident good humour, showering them, perhaps, with rose petals, sweets, and confetti? That should surely be the proper reaction to these unfortunate benighted creatures for whom this demented marching is, apparently, an indispensable symbol of identity.
Such marching, after all, is really quite a minor disruption in itself to a given neighbourhood. It is usually over and done with in a quarter of an hour or less. Its noxiousness lies, as it is intended to lie, in the offence it causes to the (previously) subject population. If that population now decided to show its moral and intellectual superiority by welcoming such manifestations in a true spirit of Christian charity and brotherly love, I suspect that it would spoil the fun of them so thoroughly that provocative marching would wither away. But, sadly, the obtuseness of one side in that part of the world can still rely on being fed and fostered by the other. - Yours etc.,
John Dillon,
Baily, Co. Dublin