After whetting Michael Collins

After whetting Michael Collins and knowing a little more about the things he did and the way he did things it really opened my eyes to the situation in Ireland. I had seen the movie before but after I wrote my policy paper on the IRA and then saw it again I really understood the problems in Ireland. Before I watched the movie for the second time I really saw what Collins was after. I thought that he was some radical terrorist who was 100 percent on the side of the IRA no matter what the sercumstances were. After I saw it again and knew more about him and the IRA he was one of the members of the IRA who was willing to take what the British was offering and work from there. I dont see him as a man who was willing to be in a constant war to receive independence. He was involved in attacks and battles, but I dont think that is what he wanted for the rest of his life and thats why he took the partial independence. What he believed in cost him his life and started a civil war between the IRA and the New Free Irish State. What Collins did was create something positive in a country with no hope or future. He gave his country hope for the future in exchange for his friends and a constant fear for his life. What he did has not stopped what the IRA does or hopes to do but he did! give them something to build on and hopefully to negotiate with the British on something to resolve this never ending battle. I always knew what the IRA was to some extent, but now I think I have the right perspective on what they are. I always thought that they were a group of raging lunatics running around bombing towns and killing people. Now I know they did bomb towns and fight battles for years, but it was for the right to be called an independent country.