The news of 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland...

Should I be worried?

I'm worried.

I'm from downtown Manhattan, a few blocks from where the World Trade Center was, and that was a very bad experience for me... My cousin and several other people I knew died.

And I'm old enough to remember the past Troubles which included bombings in England.

And my dad was from Northern Ireland, and things were really bad there in the 60's, and he had to leave.

Am I overreacting? It seems like it is getting really bad again.

ETA my husband's comment, which is actually a much better point than the one I made below:

They're Loyalist protesters this time.  Why on Earth would they start bombing London?  They might knock over a union flag!

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Let's say that you're not overreacting-- which I'm not conceding, but let's just pretend.  What are you going to do about it?  Honestly?  

I understand it must have been really hard to deal with 9/11 (I was halfway across the country, and I still don't like to talk or think about it), and no doubt your dad has some stories.

But, my own personal take on it is, there's nothing that I can do anyhow, so I'm not going to worry about it.  There's not a single precaution you could take in your everyday life that would: a) not leave you living like a prisoner in your own home, or b) actually make a blind bit of difference in the case of an attack.

So my advice is generally to relax.  By all means, if you find yourself confronted with an Orange parade or something, turn around and walk the other way.  If you see a bunch of men in ski masks loitering and looking shifty, consider phoning the police from far, far away. But other than that, just live your life.  Don't lose sleep over it.  It won't help.

Woadgrrl, your husband's comment made me LOL!

Lara, I've lived in Northern Ireland for going on 9 years.  You're fine over there in England.  For the most part, we're all grand here, too  The skirmishes that erupt every so often here are nothing compared to 30 years ago.   

ETA my husband's comment, which is actually a much better point than the one I made below:

They're Loyalist protesters this time.  Why on Earth would they start bombing London?  They might knock over a union flag!

That was my thought too the people causing the problems right now are loyal to the flag so they won't be bombing England.
 I wasn't anywhere near NYC on 9/11 so I can't even imagine what you went through or what your dad experienced in the 60's. I can only say that we can't live in fear...because then you're not living.

Thank you peeps.

I was a bit sad, and a bit scared, about it all.

I'm going to try not to worry about it.

I hope everyone in N.I. is OK. I really do. I love N.I., and I don't want anything bad to happen to anyone there.

xxoxoxo

My sense is that this is more people out to trouble make at night than anything. I understand the day time protests have been peaceful.

I accidentally ended up in an Orange neighborhood in Belfast during marching season one year. It was fine. As Petunia says, 30 years ago, it was a different story.

It seems more in line with the rioting in London in 2011 than the "troubles" of the 1970's, '80's.

Of course that means you might worry about people that live there but in the same way as people being in the way of the rioting.

There is no going back to the 'Troubles', so you have nothing to worry about.

There has been on and off trouble since the Good Friday agreement effectively set the road map for peaceful co-existence, and it will probably always be there.

With the Good Friday agreement, and the IRA could never return to their fromer effectiveness, even it if wanted to, after having its main funding and equipment supplies from  the Irish American population  cut off at the knees after 9/11, coupled  witha belated realisation in the USA, that funding freedom fighters(terrorists), perhaps isn't such a good thing, when they can come and blow up your own country as well.

Northern Ireland is a wonderful place, but Belfast like every big city has problem areas,  not necessarily terrorist related.