Northern Ireland (about the size of Connecticut) belongs to Britain and the rest of the island is the Republic of Ireland, which became a free state in 1921 (from Britain).  There has been violence ever since between those who have wanted to unite the country, and those who want to stay with Britain.  There are more issues at hand, but this is it in a nutshell.  Over 3,500 have died over the conflict.

 The most violent of times began in the late 1960’s with The Troubles and is deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.  

There are currently around 2,000 murals that document their complicated political history.  Speaking with others my age, who have children or grandchildren, their biggest desire is for them to never witness war. 

It was a very humbling morning.