I'm sitting here in Bray writing this blog, less then a mile from where in the early hours of Sunday morning last, the 16th August. Two young men lost their lives in a vicious knife attack. Over the weekend in Ireland alone there where four stabbing incidents. the other two where in Balinrobe Co. Mayo on the west coast.
The details surrounding the fatal attack in Bray are sketchy due to the fact that the two main witnesses are still being treated in hospital. Jennifer Hannigan a 22 year old girl who was the ex girlfriend of Shane Clancy the attacker and second fatal victim and dating Sebastian Crean the first victim. Was so viciously attacked that the knife broke while still in her back, she's since undergone surgery to remove it.
According to Fine Gael the main opposition party in the Dail, the number of knife attacks in Ireland has increased by 300% between 2003 - 2007, although it has dipped slightly in the past year, but never the less it is still on the rise.
The thing that is clear about the Bray incident, is that is was driven by jealousy.
What is it about the youth of today that they find rejection so hard? Is it all down to the media, where falling in love is portrayed as being easy, when in real life it takes time and a bit of work from both parties to nurture a relationship. Or is it fuelled by "shoot-em ups" and games like "Grand theft Auto" which portray the taking of life for an innocuous event as fair game.
Yes, breaking up is hard to do, we've all done it or had it done to us, but I've never felt like going and killing my Ex's. On the contrary, I've wanted them to come back, change their minds or forgive me and take me back. But if anyone did anything to them I'd stand to their defence and do serious harm to the perpetrator. But I and the majority of people I know could never harm someone they once held feelings for or may even still do.
How are we supposed to deal rejection? Me I'll play soppy love songs from Ronan Keating, Air Supply, "Ole Blue Eyes" and Deano... Have a month to six week Bridget Jones moment... Others will hit the drink to drown their sorrows. This has it's own dire side effects, which can lead to confrontational situations with the ex.
The reports in the media suggest that Shane Clancy was depressed. So does it mean that this generation are a lot mentally weaker then previous generations. Do we have more more stresses in our lives then our parents did? They might say life is easier for this generation.
back in their days your main line of communication was the landline, you made an appointment to meet a friend hours or days in advance. Or you even wrote a letter which took anything from a couple of days to a week to get somewhere, Now-a-days, we are in constant communication. Everything is done in a nano second. Emails, texts, etc. Your every sodding living breathing experience is telegraphed across the ether to friends acquaintances and even total strangers who are friends of friends of friends, via social networking sites and texts and tweets.
Back in our parents generation you had a "Circle of Friends"... It was like a golf club, you almost had to go through a Spanish Inquisition style interview to be accepted into the inner circle. Secrets were kept within the group and if you told those secrets to someone outside, you ran the risk of being exiled.
So as I wind up this piece, I send my condolences and thoughts to the three families affected by this tragedy. The Crean's whose second son Dylan, Sebastian's older brother was injured when he went to his assistance. The Hannigan's, we wish Jennifer like Dylan a speedy recovery, though the scars may heal eventually over time, it's the emotional ones which will be the hardest to get past. Finally to the Clancy's, no one will blame you for what happened. Shane may have been your son, but you can never know what is going through your child's mind every hour of the day.
Maybe Dickens said it best, "In the little world in which children have their existence... There is nothing so finely perceived or so finely felt as injustice..."
