A Letter to Des
You live in Northern Ireland and work the land. Generations of mine have worked this land and while shaping their landscape also carved from their time here characters as generous and as unique as the fields they are surrounded by.
However, you are an interloper. One of those parasites who move into a community and by terrorising your neighbours seize property and substance. Owning nothing you hoodwink the widowed or elderly to give over their land management forms claiming you will do all the work for them. Substituting your own signature you then proceed to claim this money for a full five years. When owners of the land protest that you are taking their right, intimidation becomes the order of the day. Forcing yourself into my relative’s home and holding one against the wall by the throat! When an elderly neighbour is seen peering across the road into your garden you assault him and accuse him of looking at your wife. Little realizing with his poor eyesight he can barely see his own fence and his habit of staring is born of this defect.
From owning no land, you merely rented from others, you successfully took their forms and claimed subsidies in their place. Years later, while no longer on the land and having illegally removed fences and gates from the property, you continue to claim money on this property you do not own. This abuse of the single farm payment goes unchecked as years later you can still claim this amount despite not owning the land or even renting it anymore. Planning permits are ignored as you construct on property that is not yours, barns and houses. Complaints by neighbours to authorities fall on deaf ears. Bullies thrive in today’s world where confusion and legislation fight in incompetent courts. Time delays in obtaining justice means such characters have their way and painful resignation is the order of the day.
When the persistent few actually win against you, your approach is always the same. You pay the first instalment of the money owned and then stop all subsequent payments. Knowing full well for the innocent, court orders, enforcement, unpleasantness is draining and demeaning. Even appearing in court to explain how they have been abused, is a humiliation of the soul. “Look how old, confused, helpless I am, such a rogue can seize my land, wrestle control of my property and here I appear month after month pleading for protection” they seem to convey. And hence the rogue thrives on his tyranny of others.
You and I met many years ago. I was visiting an aunt whose fields you rented. You had allowed the cattle in the fields to gain access to her garden and the bullock happily played across the lawn. I phoned to tell you that your bullock was loose and could easily get on to the main busy road causing serious injury. Your resentment was obvious but you acquiesced and moved the animal back to your fields. Later, after I’d gone you complained to my aunt about my manner. I know why you didn’t like me. We looked at each other and I saw a petty tyrant intimidating all around him. You didn’t know me, didn’t know who I knew, could not work out how I fitted in to the neighbourhood. As it happens I know no one of importance, have zero knowledge of farming practices or the area. But, I did sense something as you raised your stick and beat the bullock on its side to chase it out of the garden. I recognised a bully and applied the same logic I have long used with them. Never appease a bully, it only empowers them. Accommodating them in any way will only add to suffering of the next victim of their tyranny.
Years ago public opinion in a rural setting would bring its own consequences. If you abused the elderly farmer, a widow etc the community would quickly let the person know their actions were not to be tolerated. In such tight knit farming communities your actions would have consequences that quickly let you know lines had been crossed. Now, such is the rural isolation and pressures facing farmers despair, suicide, economic ruin, family divisions, addiction all have broken down the once united communities. The reason rural communities were so united was out of necessity. You helped a neighbour build a shed, cut his field, herd a stock etc because you would one day need their help. Your destiny was linked to theirs. But more, generations before you had followed the same path. It felt the right thing to do. A moral principle was ingrained like table manners and instilled in future generations.
When staying in my grandfather’s farm for a week, while he was unwell, I was shocked by how many characters came through the door expecting tea and chat. The door was expected to be open under all conditions and a warm greeting extended whether I knew them or not. You learned that this was deemed acceptable behaviour and to do any less was bad manners. My grandfather helped build his neighbour’s houses and was paid in potatoes not cash and sometimes not paid at all. That too, was okay because most people survived on the generousity of others and you knew that it would be repaid in friendship and respect if not in money. We all have memories of those open doors and open hearts. We were shaped at those hearths and kitchens that smelled of soda bread and roasts in the oven. When something has been lost we have to look back at an older culture to summon a better way. Each culture had a bedrock of social interaction that gently corrected and directed behaviour. Today’s splendid isolation does not serve. We are essentially communities of people in cities and countries who need each other more than we can possible imagine. Working together on common goals in service will help remind us of the necessity of community cohesion and what wonders it instills in us and our children and grandchildren. To proceed in the opposite direction will create unhealthy individuals, divided families, miserable communities and serve selfish materialistic agendas.
