Good Friday Agreement

 

The reopening of old wounds in Northern Ireland with the standoff between the Orange Order and the Residents Association over the proposed parade down the Garvaghy Road reawakened a long standing interest of mine in Irish politics.

I was raised a Catholic with at least one Irish Grandparent on my mothers side but have ancestry traced back to the House of Orange (Grand Father of William of Orange) on my father's side.
In late nineties I studied Kung Fu and spent a year living in the  Buddhist Temple of my Kung Fu School.  My Master Simon Wong was interested in British and Irish politics and was kean to make a difference in the world , he had alot of confidence and would sometime make grandeous claims I found hard to believe. He would often write letter to Tony Blair offering Spiritual blessings and Feng Shui Services . I think he eventually received a polite "thanks but no thanks"from the office of the prime minister.
I remember one weekend, just at the time the Good Friday agreement was being signed and the paramilitaries were putting down their arms .Two men arrived at the Temple to visit for a few days.They ran a inner boxing Gym in Northern Ireland, which was non sectarian and taught youth from both sides of the divide. They were interested in Sifu Wongs teaching but only received Buddhist Dharma of the True Buddha School , because Sifu annouced he had stopped teaching Kung Fu.