Since arriving in Northern Ireland, I can honestly say just about everyone I’ve encountered has made me feel welcome. Except for a few stern people in a hurry here and there, even people on the street – soaked through from cold rain and wind blowing in their faces – are polite. Granted, I’ve made sure to be a courteous visitor. Nevertheless, the friendliness with which we’ve been greeted by facilitators, guides, former combatants, local business owners, and others we encounter along our journey endears the community to me.
My favorite expression is, “You’re very welcome.” It’s a greeting that has been followed by ‘here,’ ‘in Derry,’ ‘at the museum,’ ‘in the Guildhall,’ ‘in Belfast,’ and so on. I haven’t heard this greeting anywhere else. The much more mundane, “Welcome to …” is common back home – and said with sincerity – but it doesn’t have the same sense of warmth with which I’ve been greeted in Northern Ireland.
I find this friendliness especially poignant because studying The Troubles is an emotional roller coaster with twists and turns to reflect the complexity of it all. Everyone I meet has a different point of view; in Belfast we went on a tour with a Republican guide, followed immediately by a tour with a Loyalist guide. I watched out the window of our tour bus and saw the two men briefly shake hands in passing. From each man I heard a point of view that placed blame on the other side.
But before I listened to their examples of violence and sorrow imposed upon neighbors and fellow citizens across Northern Ireland, each man introduced himself and then said to our group of visiting outsiders, “You’re very welcome here.”
At the Guildhall, you'll be very welcome to explore the informative, state-of-the-art Plantation Exhibition on the first floor. The second floor houses a gorgeous pipe organ and exquisite stained glass windows (many of which had to be restored because of bomb damage during The Troubles.)
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