How will the momentous events of this week affect the small schoolgirls in their neat uniforms, running the gauntlet of abuse each morning in north Belfast? Not very much, at least in the short term.
Some nationalist parents may well wonder why the IRA has chosen this moment to put its arms beyond use, when their children are under attack and there seems to be little hope of loyalist decommissioning. The loyalist protesters, for their part, see the IRA's statement as another trick which will inevitably lead to yet more concessions to republicans. Their sense of loss and confusion has already been illustrated by the appearances of their representatives like Billy Hutchinson.
Almost all the commentary on the IRA's decision has focused on the political pressures on the republican movement. Was the statement the result of tough talk from the US administration, particularly after September 11th? How important was the arrest of three republicans in Colombia? What about Sinn FΘin's desire to make electoral progress in the Republic? Did the withdrawal of unionist ministers from the Executive constitute a short, sharp shock?
All of these factors played a part, but it is important to stress that Northern Ireland has awoken to hopes of a better future because politicians, on both sides, have looked into the abyss over these past weeks and have chosen the better way.
A couple of weeks ago, a group of David Trimble's closest supporters in the UUP came to Dublin to talk to journalists and politicians. They wanted to convince them that if the IRA was to take a step on arms that satisfied Gen John de Chastelain, then the UUP would not be found wanting.
Michael McGimpsey said: "I look at north Belfast and think 'this is what's going to happen all over Northern Ireland'. There is the potential for that level of sectarian hatred to be unleashed across the province."
For Gerry Adams and those close to him the choice was, if anything, even more stark. All this summer Catholic communities in Belfast, Larne, Ballycastle and other towns have been under loyalist attack.
The IRA has come under enormous pressure to retaliate. Sinn FΘin knew there was a real prospect of a return to full-scale violence if the peace process began to slip away. Many of those now prominent in the Sinn FΘin leadership joined the Provisional IRA because of the attacks on the Catholic community in 1969, when nationalists were burnt out of their homes. Now, once again, they had to decide how best to protect their own streets and the interests of the community they represent.
Adams made these points when he spoke at Conway Mill on Friday. He talked about how much things had changed and of the progress which still had to be made. He referred to "policing, the political institutions, demilitarisation, human rights, the justice system and the equality agenda". There was no mention of a united Ireland.
These, in essence, were the demands of the Civil Rights movement when it first took to the streets in 1968. This represents an enormous danger to the Sinn FΘin leadership and one which the rest of us must not ignore. He went out of his way to appeal to IRA activists in their own language.
He referred to "the army" in a way rarely used by republicans in public and spoke of the need for the IRA to stand as "a people's army, in touch with the people and responsive to their needs". The greatest of these needs are peace and a political settlement which will deliver justice and equality.
It has become dangerously fashionable to criticise politicians on both sides in Northern Ireland. Journalists and the public grow weary and bored by the recriminations, the mouthing of tribal mantras. On this occasion what has been most noticeable has been the extraordinary change of tone in the comments and responses of most of the main players.
Gerry Adams has gone out of his way, at the risk of annoying his own grassroots, to appeal to unionists. David Trimble has managed not to gloat and has sometimes even come close to genuine warmth in his response.
Of course, there has been intense choreography (thank God), some of which has gone almost unnoticed. That is what politics is about. The role of the United States government has been crucial, and not simply in terms of giving Adams and Martin McGuinness a roasting over Colombia.
We now know why the US ambassador, Richard Egan, attended the Sinn FΘin Ardfheis three weeks ago. He got a lot of stick for his decision to go and listen to Adams rather than Ruair∅ Quinn.
Some commentators even seemed to think that Mr Egan could have made this choice off his own bat, rather than under instruction from his political masters back in Washington. He was on the Sinn FΘin platform at a particularly difficult time, because Adams needed to be able to show that, whatever had happened in Colombia, the republican movement could still look to the White House, provided the IRA did the right thing. Mr Egan, too, has played a part in making the events of this week possible and he deserves our gratitude.
It is still too early to write about the long-term implications of what has happened. There are still difficult times ahead, but there is also the possibility that the people of Northern Ireland will experience not only peace, but real politics.
The children of the Holy Cross could grow up in a world where the terrible conflict and grief of the past 30 years has become an old man's tale.
mholland@irish-times.ie