A Personal Reflection on Mary McAleese
By Michael Schwartz
My link to Northern Ireland, and how I came to meet Mary McAleese, goes back 35 years to 1972, when my father, a professor of social work at Columbia University, first journeyed to Northern Ireland with my mother. My father, a renowned group work theoretician, had been invited by the social work community in Northern Ireland to give a number of workshops for the profession, which was reeling from the impact of the Troubles, the name given to the sectarian conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. Having read about the violence in the North, I was amazed that my parents dared to visit such a troubled corner of the world. Each time they returned safe and sound, raving about the beauty they saw—in the country, the culture, and the people—I found myself unable to reconcile what they were telling me with what I was seeing in the graphic accounts of bombings and shootings in media reports coming out of Northern Ireland during the Seventies.
My father died suddenly in 1982, and in my grief I decided to travel to Ireland to look for him. There I found his spirit all around me as I met some of the loveliest human beings to grace our planet, people who loved my father and in turn extended their love to me. My father’s friends became my friends, and I realized my Jewish father’s humorous observation rang true: The Irish and the Jews share one thing in common—a love of “craic.” I adopted Yeats’ “land of a terrible beauty” and began to visit Northern Ireland on a regular basis. That’s how I met Brian Symington in 1983.
Brian Symington, a transplanted English rugby player-turned-social worker living and working in Belfast, was (and still is) director of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf of Northern Ireland and fluent in British Sign Language. Brian is a man with a mission in life—the advocacy of the rights of deaf people in Northern Ireland. Extraordinarily kind, intelligent and warm, Brian is an amazing font of ideas, projects and dreams. He is also very generous: He is always seeking to make things happen for others. When my wife, Trisha, and I journeyed to Northern Ireland in 1995, Brian told us that he wanted us to meet an important person—an educator at Queen’s University of Belfast, who happened to have a younger brother who was deaf. Her name was Mary McAleese.
Bounding down the long staircase at Queen’s University’s central hall was a woman of infectious energy and charm—the Pro Vice Chancellor of Queens, Mary McAleese. Trisha and I found her to be a larger-than-life personality, warm, witty, funny, intelligent, and very down to earth. We adjourned to a nearby restaurant for lunch, and our conversation uncovered a mutual interest in deafness and disability rights. We were also impressed with Mary’s humanity. A native of Belfast who grew up during the height of the Troubles, Mary had seen horrifying violence, including attacks directed at members of her own family. What struck us was that despite having borne witness to such deadly hatred, Mary was still possessed by love and respect for people regardless of their religious affiliation. Like Brian Symington, who sought to build bridges between deaf and hearing people, Mary sought to build bridges between Catholics and Protestants. She steadfastly refused to let the violence around her erode her basic faith in the goodness within people, and it is that faith that has illuminated Mary McAleese’s life and presidency.
Since that day we met at Queen’s University, we have stayed in close touch. Shortly after we met, Mary and her family came to New York City, and Trisha and I showed them the sights of that great city. As Pro Vice Chancellor, Mary invited me to speak at a conference on disability hosted by Queen’s University, and we have kept in contact over the years. When Mary became President of Ireland, we visited her and her family at the President’s official residence, Aras, in Dublin. A recent visit was over Easter weekend 2006; the country was celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1916, an Irish rebellion against English rule that ultimately led to the founding of the Republic of Ireland. We had a wonderful ringside seat at a historical juncture presided over by Mary—a moment when Ireland stood in proud remembrance of its heroes of the past.
Fast forward to a few months later in 2006. At the helm of Syracuse University is Chancellor Nancy Cantor, with a dynamic vision for the University community, Scholarship in Action, which parallels Mary’s work as a bridge builder. So when I saw the Chancellor at a reception, I asked her if she would be interested in having Mary McAleese come to our campus. The Chancellor responded with a resounding “yes.”
And so now, gratefully, I have a chance to return some of Mary’s wonderful Irish hospitality when she arrives in Syracuse!
Michael Schwartz, Esq., is assistant professor of law and director of the Disability Rights Clinic at the Syracuse University College of Law. Among his degrees, he holds a Ph.D. in education and disability studies from the SU School of Education.