Strange creatures we are, even to ourselves.

Martin 2021-12-26 08:01:08

My name is Damian and I am a medical student who has just graduated and I plan to go to London to continue my studies.

My hometown, Ireland, is a hot land, full of greenery and picturesque scenery. The people are industrious and simple, but they are ravaged by the invaders. The British army is rampant here, wantonly trampling on our dignity, insulting us as Irish pigs, and killing our compatriots. Someone in the town was just dredging in the street and was shot in the back. My neighbor’s child Miguel, only seventeen years old, was dragged to the chicken coop and executed because he refused to say his name in English. The tyranny of the British forces forced the fearlessness of the Irish. Too much bloodshed caused resistance, and where there was resistance, there was even more cruel suppression. My brother Teddy is the leader here. I hesitated and refused, but in the end I agreed: Ireland needs doctors, but it needs fighters to join the resistance movement. So I joined the Irish Republican Army.

We acted in secret, completed many tasks, and the army of the Republic began to grow stronger. The British army was furious and helpless at us. But the squire in the town reported us, and the traitor appeared. We were arrested and tortured. Some people were lucky enough to be saved, but three of our partners were executed.

I shot the informant squire and the kid who became a traitor, that kid, I watched him grow up all the way. I told Dan that I had studied anatomy for five years, but now I want to kill people. I hope Ireland is worth it.

At last there was news of a truce. The signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty allowed the 26 counties in southern Ireland to become a free state in the British Empire according to the treaty, but allegiance to the British King was still required; the six northern counties remained under British rule. The British retreated, leaving the Irish with conditional freedom and huge internal divisions. Peace is hard-won, is it to compromise or to insist on complete independence? Teddy chose to compromise and became a soldier in the Free State. And I cannot accept false freedom and peace and independence in disguise. The robes who had faced the enemy side by side drew their swords to each other, and the brothers smashed the wall to open the curtain.

I wanted to stay out of this war, but I was still involved; now I want to get away but can't. In an unsuccessful operation, Dan died. I was unwilling to give the address where the Republican Army’s weapons were hidden. My brother Teddy was about to execute me in the early morning. I left a suicide note to my loved one, which reads like this: You once said that one day our children would be able to taste freedom. I also pray for this day, but I am afraid it is farther than we thought. .

Dan once said: "It's easy to know what you want to resist, but it's another thing to know why you want to persist." There was a time when my heart was empty. I think I know now, and it gave me courage.

I was still afraid of death, but until I died, I did not give up persisting. I hope that in this green land, children will not have to endure starvation; the elderly will not be forced into desperation by loan sharks, nor will they have to worry about the destruction of their homes and the murder of their children; workers will no longer work overtime and be exploited by British capitalists. ; There will be no more black holes aimed at my compatriots, no matter if the person holding the gun is the aggressor or his own. Perhaps one day, these hopes can become a natural reality in people's eyes. But at this moment, this is my ideal and belief. I am about to die, but I have no heart to die. For this distant hope, I am willing to pay the price of my life.

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The Wind that Shakes the Barley quotes

  • Damien: I tried not to get into this war, and did, now I try to get out, and can't.

  • Damien: The Treaty does not express the will of the people, but the fear of the people.