Like the invincible teenager Cu Chullin I want to pound up and down the land raising awareness grapple with the armies of indifference, shout at the night sky and rage at the moon, grab Transition by the neck and hurl it in to every city, town, village and community of Ireland. My impatience, anger and impotence seethes like pus and makes me restless. I strong-arm my energy in fruitless attempt as to cover a suppurating sore with sticking plaster, to dam the strength and passion that oozes, pulsates and bursts from my skin, for fear of irreparable damage in careless word or action.
We are David versus Goliath in an extraordinary sea of apathy. From the bunkers of Transition let us use our simple slings, and for those weapons to be possessed by demon words, rousing everyone from temporary indifference, exploding bedrock beliefs, opening minds and igniting souls with audacity and skill to radically change and transform the very essence of humanity. I refuse to believe that we are like the Marie Celeste blithely sailing rudderless, on an on into an unknowable, unworkable, questionable future. Daily I imagine Transition powerfully steering, holding and shaping the course of this social epidemic, implacable in the face of indifference, persevering against all odds, reaffirming our potential for change and safe in the knowledge of our power of positive action.
Thats a window into my subconscious, the right brain part of me, that bit that defies logic, the bit that stands up and says“no you are not beat” (pronounced bate in Northern Ireland speak) That bit of me that doesn’t know when its bate! That part of me that has an unshakeable belief, that there are many solutions, that collectively we have the intellect, the power and the wherewithal to influence, engage, activate and inspire those around us. That we all are transformative leaders, from the smallest to the greatest of us creating something new that answers our concerns, something that wasn’t necessarily going to happen anyways.
So where now for Transition Omagh?
Applying that stream of consciousness thinking (and considering our recent setback in Omagh around the community cafe that didn’t happen read here). We are back at the drawing board re-inventing, re-igniting, re-inspiring, implacably moving on in the face of adversity. Inhaling deeply, focussing inwardly and drawing on the right side of the brain, we return to basics; as someone said earlier on this week “ we start from where we are, with what we have, to do the best we can.” Below is a (now) snapshot of Transition Omagh and what we have to work with.









