Peace Campaigner
William Ury wrote in his 1999 book The Third Side:
In an interview with the BBC, Wilson described with anguish his last conversation with his daughter and his feelings toward her killers: "She held my hand tightly, and gripped me as hard as she could. She said, 'Daddy, I love you very much.' Those were her exact words to me, and those were the last words I ever heard her say." To the astonishment of listeners, Wilson went on to add, "But I bear no ill will. I bear no grudge. Dirty sort of talk is not going to bring her back to life. She was a great wee lassie. She loved her profession. She was a pet. She's dead. She's in heaven and we shall meet again. I will pray for these men tonight and every night." As historian Jonathan Bardon recounts, "No words in more than twenty-five years of violence in Northern Ireland had such a powerful, emotional impact."
In 1993 Wilson, although a resident of Northern Ireland, was invited to become a member of Seanad Éireann on the nomination of the then Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds.
Read more about this topic: Gordon Wilson (peace Campaigner)
Famous quotes containing the word peace:
“The name of peace is sweet, and the thing itself is beneficial, but there is a great difference between peace and servitude. Peace is freedom in tranquility, servitude is the worst of all evils, to be resisted not only by war, but even by death.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)