I was 18 when the Good Friday Agreement was signed 25 years ago this week, finally bringing imperfect peace to the place I call home.
This makes me part of the last ‘transitional generation’. We didn’t go through what older people in Northern Ireland did, but our childhoods were marked by sectarianism, division and violent conflict between paramilitaries and the state. We yearned for a better future.
Back then, the abnormal was normal. Soldiers with machine guns walked the streets and there were areas you weren’t allowed to go to, security barriers, checkpoints, shootings and bombings. You had to have your bag checked to go into shops, and be careful about what you said and where you said it.
