A Senator wins the Nobel Prize

9th April, 2009

The Senator in question is, of course, WB Yeats. I was reminded of this on Wednesday. I spent a few moments in the National Library during lunch time. A friend pointed out the medal that Yeats received in Stockholm. It is on the lowest shelf in a display unit.

Made me ask whether we are doing enough to cherish and learn from our history. Do we really celebrate all these people and moments in our history enough? This is the 85th anniversary of a serving member of the Oireachtas winning one of the greatest awards there is.

We are happy to look at what Sweden, Denmark and Israel has done to turn around their own economies and societies. What about Lemass and Dukes? If we looked back more, we could learn more about how we triumphed in the past, how we could again in the future and build some pride when it is badly needed.