On the 5th December 1979 I stood outside the gates of the Garda Training Centre in Templemore with a group of other guys who were also waiting to be admitted. I can still remember the cold as we waited there with our suitcases, a bunch of complete strangers, about to begin our training. The feeling of apprehension is as clear to me now as it was back then and that’s all of thirty seven years ago. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then but it is amazing to think how quickly that time has passed.
That was the same year that Kramer v Kramer was released, Village People had a hit with “YMCA”, Pink Floyd released “The Wall”, Pope John Paul ll visited Ireland, Monty Pythons “Life of Brian” appeared on screen for the first time, Earl Mountbatten was killed by the IRA and Seve Ballesteros won the British Open. A pint of Guinness would have cost you 9 shillings and 4 pence or 47p in todays’ money.
Retirement was a long way off
A lot has happened since then and the years have just rolled by. I was told by an older member during my first year that my time would fly by. He said that the first ten years would pass quickly, the second ten would go by even faster and the last ten years would go by in the blink of an eye. As a youngster of course I didn’t believe him but I have passed those words on to many young gardai since then because it is so true. You really need to enjoy your time because it doesn’t last long.
I can remember being in a friends’ house when I was about twelve years old and as it was coming up to five o’clock in the evening his mother told me that I had to leave. The dad was due home any miniute and they were having a little family party to celebrate his birthday. He was fifty years old. I can remember as I was leaving, he pulled up in his car and as he got out I looked at him and I thought to myself, he’s an old man. I’m now eight years older than he was at that time and I still consider myself to be a young guy. So does that mean that I’m delusional or has something changed?
The good guys are gone
I don’t ever remember spending too much time thinking about retirement. That was so far away from me that it wasn’t worth wasting time even considering it. I was more concerned about building my house so I could set myself up for life. My wife and I were going to be young forever.
Now all of a sudden, I’m retired and we are looking at downsizing the house and preparing for the next stage in life. We complain about the arthritis and promise to spend more time in a warmer and drier climate. We are grandparents and we have bundles of tablets by the bed. We get up in the middle of the night to do what old people do and then we have trouble straightening up in the morning. We compare pains and aches. So how did all this sneak up on me?
A lot of good people have fallen by the wayside over the years from illness or accident and it makes me wonder why we are spending so much time in turmoil and conflict when life is so short?
It’s a complicated issue
A photograph appeared in the Sunday paper recently and the image continues to bother me. It showed four kids hiding under a truck somewhere on the Syrian / Turkish border. One child was looking straight at the camera and he can’t have been more than five years of age. He’s squatting down with his hands in his pockets and he has the face of someone older who has seen too much. It’s like a look of acceptance but he is just a toddler.
There was another photo of a little boy in the back of an ambulance with blood on his face. He looked to be in total shock and was covered in dust as a result of an explosion. He wiped some of the blood off his face with his hand and then looked at it not knowing what to do next. This is wrong on every level and life is way too short for this.
It’s a complete mess
I find it difficult to get my head around the rights and wrongs of what is essentially a very confusing and complicated civil war in Syria. It seems that Russian and Syrian government forces are fighting to take the city of Aleppo back from the rebels and the fighting there has caused thousands to make their way to the Turkish border to seek refuge. The UN does what the UN does best and makes strong protests. It has expressed concern that access and supply routes are now cut off. It has asked Turkey to open the border and has called on other countries to help Turkey with aid. German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused Russia of bombing civilians and Russia said it didn’t.
It is a complete mess but in the meantime, you have God knows how many children living in fear and confusion when they should be at home playing with their toys and their friends. They should be laughing and having fun without a care in the world. They should be in the comfort of their own homes surrounded by their families and not out in the elements hiding under trucks like frightened rabbits.
They should be looking forward to their future and all the things that they will do before they wake up some morning suddenly find that they are in their fifties.