Letter: Dreaming of better - and more innocent - times, watching John Wayne at the pictures, and when people read their Bible

The unionist community is in a tailspin and can’t pull out of it. Even worse, it’s in denial.

Depressed by the thought, I drifted into a trance, a symptom of our affliction. It’s a curse inflicted on us by the gods for our indolence and our apathy, and robs us of our capacity to act. Not only that, it introduces a feelgood factor that invades that area of the brain that makes you think.

Now in the winter of my life I felt myself drifting back, alone with my memories.

In my reverie, I think how blessed we were in the past, and how innocent the times. In this troubled world I wondered was it all a trick of the mind. I wondered did it happen.

We were working-class, and proud – most people were, and none the worse for it.

There was a middle-class, but they were thin on the ground, and no threat. That has changed, there was no Alliance Party then.

Stripped down they were just like us and had nothing to be proud of. They even watched the Twelfth procession, and went to the same church. It kept them humble – they would tell you that themselves!

Churches were different then, we had preachers with fire in their bellies, and they lit a fire under the congregation. You were scalded, but you came back.

When we could afford it we went to the pictures, and rode with John Wayne. We took a few scalps but seem to have lost the habit – we’re now “cowboys” firing blanks. If we saw a bare bum it was a thrill, we talked about it for weeks. And the good guys always won – that stayed with us and left a lasting impression.

And then there was Scarva. Names like Samson, Gideon, and Queen Esther were on display, and people understood. The Bible was an open book then, and people read it.

Now we have turned Scarva into a carnival.

We should learn from our past, not live in it, and take the lesson forward.

That’s where it all went wrong – we got things too easy and learned nothing from it. Truth was bartered away while we slept.

You only appreciate what you’ve got when you break sweat and have to work for it. “No pain, no gain” it says on the banners. We should pause and consider that.

The heroes of the past carved out their own history. How will we be remembered? Will we feature on the banners, or be burned in effigy?

As I drift into my dotage, I’m not inspired. Sometimes dreams are all you’ve got.

Clive Maxwell, Bleary