Irish Resistance

We had an opportunity to attend a book launch gathering at Queens University in Belfast to celebrate four books written by PhD graduates of the school of Irish Politics. All four authors presented their works on various participants in the Irish political process during the 20th century. After they completed their remarks, a renowned expert on the subject ascended the podium to pompously add his thoughts on the matter and close the formalities. During the launch I noticed a man sitting near me who had long greying hair, a super rocking mustache,  and walked with a cane. He seemed to show particular interest in the subject.  At a reception following I was introduced to him and had a short but really enlightening conversation with him. He asked what I thought of the talk, and I honestly said it was outside my areas of study or expertise. He began to recite the names of the men who serve as subjects of the books on-hand for the launch. With each name he recited his personal knowledge of, and relationship with each one in the 1970's and 1980's. He began a recitation of his family history in Ireland going back 100 generations. He also answered questions I had about a variety of subjects. At the end he expressed his amusement and disgust at the distinguished expert in Irish history who spoke, not being Irish at all...he's English. He said, "They speak of Irish resistance as an academic question to be answered. They talk about Irish resistance, " he says, "I am Irish resistance." Indeed he has the scars to prove it. I learned more from him in 20 minutes than I learned from the PhD experts in an hour. There's something to be said for the real deal.