O would some Power the gift to give us,
to see ourselves as others see us!
it would from many a blunder free us . . .
Robert Burns's lines spring to mind as the political and personal progress made by Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness is put on display for an American audience this week in New York and Washington.
"It really is amazing to watch people's faces here and to see how thrilled they are that the Ian Paisley they've seen during the course of this visit is almost a total contrast to everything that they imagined about him in the course of their lives. It is quite palpable, the level of excitement here."
So said Mr McGuinness on the third day of their visit. Others confirmed that many prominent Americans and Irish-Americans want to see for themselves how close is the relationship between the two men. "It's almost like they want to come and see it for themselves so they can go back and say, 'I've seen it, it's working and it's not going to go back to the past'," Mr McGuinness added.
The transformation we are getting used to in Ireland is indeed much more palpable in the US - and we should not underestimate the importance of that fact. The main focus of this visit is economic - to attract US investment for Northern Ireland, and specifically to ensure a good attendance at an investment conference planned there next May. In New York their message of durable and sustainable political change was delivered very skilfully to some highly influential people. In Washington yesterday and today the same theme is being brought home at the highest political levels as the two leaders meet President Bush and senior congressional figures.
That level of access is as extraordinary as the goodwill for Ireland it expresses. There is of course the long-standing sentiment that Irish-America and Scots-Irish America draw upon, which has been so enthusiastically in evidence this week. It is good to witness the convergence of those traditions which have been at odds for so long. There is in addition a continuing US national interest in promoting the resolution of a conflict into which American leaders have put so much effort as a potential example for deeply divided societies elsewhere, such as Iraq.
Dr Paisley is the central figure, having decided to make the agreement work on a basis of trust and friendship. Seeing that reconciliation through the eyes of the Americans who witnessed it this week is a reminder of how recently achieved it is and why it should not be taken for granted North or South.