Sunday Bloody Sunday

Sunday Bloody Sunday 

 

Do you know the origin to U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday? I didn’t know until today.

 For years I knew there was a back-story U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday but I didn’t know what it was. Today while listening to U2s infamous song my brain told me to check out the song. Wow my mind was shocked I didn’t know anything about this tragic incident. 

For those like me who were let down by the American education system here is a short summary. For years Catholics and Protestants of Ireland were at each others’ throats on how to run the country and who ran it among other issues. There was a combination of violent and non-violent protest on both sides of the issues. Finally the British sent in troops to hopefully control the situation but things spiraled out of control leading to a few deaths on Catholics and Protestants and the British military. 

January 30, 1972 a group of Roman Catholic protestors met up with the intentions of making their way to Guildhall. The protestors’ way was blocked by a blockade made by the local troops and some of British military. While the main group of people moved in another direction by those leading the protest and efforts of the military. Some protestors still remained and the control forces got the order to get the remaining protestors to move out to prevent anything from getting out of hand. And this is where things are fuzzy. 

The control forces claimed they were fired upon after possibly firing warning shots. More shots were fired possibly only fired by the military forces. When the smoke cleared 13 men were dead and several more injured including one who would later die. Not much is known on what exactly happened but from a couple after incident investigations it appears that at least most if not all people who died were un-armed. Some of the initial people who were hit by bullets were trying to flee the scene. There are also a few known cases where people who were killed were actually trying to help the wounded (based off eyewitness accounts and footage from the scene). 

Okay rock fanatics I know Sunday Bloody Sunday, is U2 singing about two different events dealing with massacre that fell on a Sundayin Ireland. I feel like the massacre on Jan. 1972 has a bigger part on development of the song. At the time of the incident the lead singer and song writer Bono was roughly 12 years old at the time of the incident which was highly covered in the news media. You cannot tell me that this massacre of possibly innocent people who look just like him did not have an everlasting affect on a young Bono. 

Rest in Peace

Patrick ‘Paddy’ Doherty, Gerald Donaghey, John ‘Jackie’ Duddy, Hugh Gilmour, Michael Kelly, Michael McDaid, Kevin McElhinney, Bernard ‘Barney’ McGuigan, Gerald McKinney, William ‘Willie’ McKinney, William Nash, James ‘Jim’ Wray, John Young, and John Johnston 

Disclaimer: Any images shown are not mine and are used out of respect for their owners.  I know my grammar and spelling is rather poor that's what happens when you have dyslexia and a brain that thinks faster than your hands can type. 

 

Story idea that needed to be written

I wrote this piece a couple of weeks ago in one or two sessions. There was no pre-planning involved so nothing was really fleshed out. I think this was written more in the need to write. I know there is spelling and grammatical errors. If you have any ideas or suggestion to continue this on I am willing to hear them,. 

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Story opening

“Excuse me sweety, do you want any more Ginger Ale?” the flight attendant asked in her thick Southern Drawl. She had to be around his mother’s age and height, she wore the uniform tight enough that Alister could see veins in her neck throb. Alister with a quick nod of his head saying no and he watched as the woman asked the guy in the business suit next to him who had a five o’clock shadow before noon. As the attendant walked to the row in front of them something in the back of his mind told him that this would be the last time he would see her. He brushed it off that was just a thought saying the plane would be landing soon and they would never meet again. He turned his head back to IPod and continued to watch his movie. 

What seemed like a mere seconds was actually a couple of hours later Alister noticed there was a strange buzzing noise coming from beyond his earbuds. He removed his ear buds to see if the noise was really coming from the area around him. He looked right than left and noticed a confused and nervous look from the guy in the suit. 

“Ever you ever heard that noise,” Alister asked the man next to him. 

“I have been flying for years this is a new one for me,” man in the suit said as the buzzing noise suddenly got even louder.

“Excuse me ladies and gentleman we appear to be having technical difficulties. We are being rerouted to Oklahoma City to see what is the problem,” said the plane’s Captain over the intercom. He quickly repeated his message as the plane started to descend quicker than what Alister had ever seen. 

“It is probably nothing, I have been on quite a few flight that’s have had to make an emergency landing before and nothing has happened,” said the man in the suit next to Alister. He was convinced the man was just saying that to comfort himself. He looked out the window and saw that the engine appeared to be fine.

Another several minutes went by in a flash again and things continued to stay the same the plane was still descending rapidity and the buzzing noise still present. In the pit of Alister’s stomach he felt a pain and butterflies. It appeared that the man in the suit had calmed down a little but Alister seemed to feel more and more nervous. All of sudden the buzzing noise became a loud thump and a grinding noise. Alister looked out the window to see the engine on his right was spitting a black liquid and sparks were coming out of the back. Quite a few passengers heard the thumb and saw what was coming out of the engine that started to scream or cry out. A short brunette flight attendant came over to try and calm down the other passengers. Alister was biting his lower lip the whole time try to stay in control.

A third flash of minutes went by things where worse. The right engine was turned off and the whole right wing seemed to be shaking more than normal. Most of the passengers on the plane where either screaming, crying, or praying to their deity. Alister looked out the window which had developed a small crack and he noticed that the ground was coming up to quickly and they seemed to be in the middle of now where. He felt the plane violently hit the ground and he gave out a loud grunt.

Alister suddenly woke up from his nightmare in his single one bedroom apartment. It took only a measly few seconds for him to realize he safe in his own bed. He sat in his bed half laying and half propped up on a pillow. His body was covered in sweat and his knee and shoulder were rather tight and did not want move. Alister looked around his dimly lit room trying to clear his head trying to kick in his brain that he was in reality. He saw the stream of light from his bedroom window across his torso, with a sudden flash he swore he could smell blood, acid, hot medal, and jet fuel. The doctors called it Post- traumatic  stress disorder and time with the help of meds and other doctors his nightmares would lessen. Over the three years things at gotten better but at least over three months or so we the nightmare replay with vividly graphic detail. Tonight was not one of those nights but it still shook him to his core.

“Damn,” Alister mumbled as he kicked the sheets from his legs. He stumbled to the bathroom to not only clear his nagging bladder but also his mind. His left leg was rejecting to work but he forced it. Alister he had left the master bathroom and had made his way out to his living hoping to find some relief there. It was not that hard for Alister to find his way since nice sized fish tank lit up the walkway from his bathroom to the living room. He clicked on another set of fish tank lights as he got into the living room. Staring back at him from the wall above the tank was portrait of his parents reminding him of his childhood and innocence. “Thanks for everything,” Alister murmured to his parents has if they could hear him through the picture. They helped him through some of the worst times including right after the crash.

Alister grabbed a small rolled up rug from the behind the fish tank. He laid the rolled up rug and admired it for a quick second before stepping on it. Not long after the accident Alister met up with an old friend who told him that mediation might help sort out some of his feelings and control some others. He that Megan was a complete hippie offering him useless advice but he decided to join her in one of her sessions. He soon figured out this tall flower in her hair blonde might be on to something. As time went by and researching and testing Alister found a handmade mat by artist out of Tucson, AZ. helped him the most in mediating.