Where Have All The Bad Boys Gone?

[JCR]

Queuing in the post office the other week, who was in front of me but Pee Flynn, ex T.D., Minister, E.U. Commissioner. I was fed up waiting for the line to move along, especially as I was in the bloody wheelchair and when one is in a wheelchair, one is subjected to either pitying looks, quick furtive glances in my leg area, being spoken to IN A VERY LOUD AND SLOW VOICE by people who seem to think that the loss of motion means also the loss of hearing and I.Q., so having worked in the Dáil for 25 years, I thought I'd say hello and see how he was doing.

"Howya Padraigh", says I, giving his very nice Parka jacket a little tug. He spun round and finally located me at his knees. "Well, hello there", he said with a lovely smile. "You are looking sooo well. Tell me, how are things going now?" I was quite startled as I thought for a brief moment that he recognised me, then I thought, "God sake woman, he' a politician. He has no idea who you are."

"You're looking great", says I, and he is. Much better looking now than he used to look. Heavier build, no slimy looking hair dragged over. Tall man. Very tall, mind you everyone looks tall when you are sitting down.

Now I know the history of Mr. Flynn, and his daughter, and his in-laws and none of it makes pretty reading, but I have to tell you, that man spoke to me at length, and was so good that never once did he let it slip that he did not know me from Adam. After all, I had changed a lot in the intervening years and the wheelchair is a new affect. He told me his age, 71, where he was living now. Where he was born, a mile and a half from where I was living, (gasp) etc., etc. He had me convinced (almost) by the end of the conversation that he knew me as well as he knew the back of his hand, although we all know that Pee Flynn never let his left hand know what his right hand was doing.

We exchanged telephone numbers and he went to collect his....pension?? But you know what? I kinda felt sorry for the man. Does that make sense. There was this once well known politician, always in the hub of everything that was going on, and down, and now he was alone, in a queue, in a post office, in a small town in Mayo.

It made me think of all the other "yesterday" men. The ones who were followed by hordes of media people, who were courted by the powerful and the rich. Who had so much influence over so many lives. How do they feel when it is all over? When the "darkness" beckons?

I am an avid hater of FF. I despise them. I do. And yet I left that man, waving to me as if I was a long lost friend, feeling sorry for him. Why?

Its so sad you feel sorry for a man whi is clearly intent on taking everything he can from this country (even when he doesn't need it compared to the income he has) until the day he dies. That kind of bizzare thinking is what led us to the FF inspired economic disaster. Bertie's tears probably had you enrapt as well.

[eoghanacht]

The man was a con-artist, spiv , me fein CRIMINAL,who spawned a criminal. The OP is indicative of what's wrong with our political system. Personalities before policy.

Sher never mind he's a likeable rogue. You keep voting them in, they'll keep scheming.

[Lazarus]

Its so sad you feel sorry for a man whi is clearly intent on taking everything he can from this country (even when he doesn't need it compared to the income he has) until the day he dies. That kind of bizzare thinking is what led us to the FF inspired economic disaster. Bertie's tears probably had you enrapt as well.

The man was a con-artist, spiv , me fein CRIMINAL,who spawned a criminal. The OP is indicative of what's wrong with our political system. Personalities before policy.

Sher never mind he's a likeable rogue. You keep voting them in, they'll keep scheming.

For goodness sakes lads. I made it very clear that I despise the party this person belongs to. I mean, did you actually read my post? I've never voted for FF in my life, and unless they change their T.D.s and their behaviour radically, I never will.

The difference is that me, being a fairly normal person, feels compassion for the person, despite the outrages they might have committed, when you see them looking lost and small, whereas there are some who feel hatred for the person and ignore the possible fact that this "demon" may in fact have done some good, indeed, some great good, in his life, at some stage. Hate the sin, love the sinner, as the Burn Again Christians like to say. I can't help feeling compassion, no more than I can help feeling despair at the attitude of the main political party of Ireland, which has plundered us, and left us broke, instead of protecting us, and ensuring a future for our children.

[JCR]

For goodness sakes lads. I made it very clear that I despise the party this person belongs to. I mean, did you actually read my post? I've never voted for FF in my life, and unless they change their T.D.s and their behaviour radically, I never will.

The difference is that me, being a fairly normal person, feels compassion for the person, despite the outrages they might have committed, when you see them looking lost and small, whereas there are some who feel hatred for the person and ignore the possible fact that this "demon" may in fact have done some good, indeed, some great good, in his life, at some stage. Hate the sin, love the sinner, as the Burn Again Christians like to say. I can't help feeling compassion, no more than I can help feeling despair at the attitude of the main political party of Ireland, which has plundered us, and left us broke, instead of protecting us, and ensuring a future for our children.

I know what you are saying but the point is that a sense of decency is what led irish citizens to believe that they were not being led by scumbags and FF played on this fact. You reap what you sow and how we have reaped it.