bridges

Quick snap this morning looking down the Lagan River towards Ormeau Bridge.The "new bridge" was built in 1863 when Belfast was a town of about 120,000 people.  The River was navigable then and trade was plied via barges as well as horse and cart. The path alongside the river was well trodden. The bridge was designed to be future proofed - although what people understood to be the future in 1863 is anyone's guess.
I am sure it wasn't to envisage a bridge with bus lanes, cycle tracks, huge volumes of traffic at all times of the day and Belfast's first "ghost bike" placed there to commemorate a terrible, fatal cycle accident in 2011 (see extra photo).
Ultimately bridges are built to be walked on and driven over .. it is why they exist.

Much of peacebuilding here in this place I call home involves building bridges between "them" and "us". Sometimes it is necessary to be that bridge. That can be uncomfortable as it does involve being beseiged by heavy traffic.

The call be be a bridge builder is not limited to here.. it has resonance with other far flung places where similar constructions are needed.
It is a hard call but a worthy and necessary one.