On this day in 1987, the Provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army bombed a memorial service in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing 11 and injuring 63.
About a month ago, a report by the Independent Monitoring Commission, a watchdog group set up by the British and Irish governments, reported that the IRA had taken unprecedented steps to undercut the group's potential for violence.
If you know anything about the long, ugly and fascinating history of the Northern Ireland conflict, you'll understand why this is a very good thing.
Following centuries of colonization, mistreatment and general enmity, the Irish fought a fierce guerrilla war with England in 1919, achieving a truce and partial independence in 1921. The southern half of the country went to the Irish people as the Republic of Ireland, and the northern half stayed with the British as the colony of Ulster.
Many Irish weren't too keen on this arrangement, and waged civil war against both the British and the Irish of the new republic.
The partition stood, but for the rest of the century, Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups grew and evolved in Northern Ireland, waging a bloody war of bombings, shootings, beatings and torture that killed thousands of people.
In the 1970s and '80s, the movements fractured into hardcore extremist splinter groups intent on continuing the violence, and the struggle became increasingly intertwined with organized crime.
The events of this era have been a major example of 20th century terrorism at its worst.
My great-grandfather was an IRA volunteer for 17 years. He participated in raids, bombings and assassinations, escaped from jail twice and went on two prison hunger strikes, including one lasting 52 days.
Thoroughly disgusted with the results of the struggle, he left Ireland in 1926 and vowed never to return.
Naturally, I was interested in the history, and two years ago, I went to Belfast.
My companions and I were greeted at the train station by an impromptu tour guide from the cab service, a short stocky man of 50 wearing a striped football jersey, glasses, tattoos and a mustache.
We piled into the backseat of his black, beetle-like cab and wound our way through the gray, segregated neighborhoods of the city.
We were inquisitive as hell.
"What's this? What's that? Why? Have you been driving cabs long?"
"Yeah," he said bitterly to the last question. "I hate it."
We must have looked like cartoon characters in some grotesque movie to him. His life was to get up, drive in circles and occasionally go to the train station that disgorged carfuls of American rubes who thrust their noses and cameras into every nook and cranny that might photograph well.
He was very patient with us and answered all of our questions.
He had been in prison. "I was arrested for carrying a rifle in the trunk of my car. They sentenced me to 11 years, but I got out after four.
"They don't let you join the IRA unless you're willing to kill someone. A lot of young men here have been faced with joining. I was in the IRA but I'm out now. The IRA is finished. They're tired of violence.
"There are all these younger splinter groups causing trouble that the IRA could go and snuff out if they really wanted, but they'd just catch heat from the press for the bloodbath."
He sounded very weary as we stood on damp, grassy hills in the segregated neighborhoods and admired the colorful anti-Catholic and anti-Protestant murals that adorned the sides of the flats there.
"A lot of people have died, and violence won't solve anything now. The old guard of the IRA knows that."
And now, two years later, the report by the International Monitoring Commission confirms that the IRA seems sick and tired of violence, and has proved it by handing over their guns.
What's this? It looks like an internationally recognized terrorist group more or less openly acknowledging that violence is futile. Is that what it really is?
Only time, and the completion of the peace process, will tell.
The IRA's recent demilitarization gives credence to their old claim that they are patriots fighting for Ireland.
If these men of violence can lay aside old enmities, then maybe there's hope for the rest of the world too.
Matthew Neff misses Ireland. Send him condolences at: matthew.neff@asu.edu.
