Madam, - Peter McVerry, SJ has recently published an excellent book entitled The Meaning is in the Shadows. He tells of his experience in dealing with boys and young men who have had terrible life experiences: stories about abuse, poverty, crime, mental illness, and drugs. This is a realistic and eye-opening account of how thousands of people live today in our society, ignored by a lot of us.
How can we go on living in a society that pretends everything is great since the economy is going strong, in a society that is becoming more and more materialistic, and leave all these people suffering?
Sometimes we feel powerless. However, we are citizens, and as such we can vote for politicians who care about people (and by people I do not mean only powerful and wealthy people). And we can demonstrate when things go wrong. Isn't it time to do it? - Yours, etc.,
HÉLÉNE ROUGET, Mount Argus Crescent, Lower Kimmage Road, Dublin 6W.