Sins of the father

I was somewhat perplexed the other day by the naivety of reporters and commentators alike in their comments regarding the resurgence of Republican violence in Northern Ireland. First one and then the other would express incredulity and dismay at the fact that the new radicals who spout their bile - Protestant and Catholic alike - either in chatrooms or on the street were all young, in their late teens or early twenties, and had never lived through the troubles. Surely it is blindingly obvious that this is the very reason why they have no qualms about disinterring the old factional hatreds! They haven't had to endure the strife, cope with the trauma, get worn down by it all over so many years. They've never had to get their shirts wet. To expect these young neo-Republicans to accept what is plainly an imperfect solution to the Republican dream (however irreconcilable the alternatives) on account of what their elders have come up with and resigned themselves to is as unreasonable as expecting the next generation of adolescents not to take up an all-consuming interest in sex when their balls drop, on account of others previously having done it and been there. The fact that their elders have chosen the wisest path is neither here nor there. Kids. You can't teach them owt. I blame the parents.