I recall a poem from my school days where the opening lines were: “To see a world in a grain of sand / And a heaven in a wild flower.”

Unfortunately, I can’t remember who wrote it or what its title was.

But it came to mind the other day when an old friend pointed out that I have the habit of writing this column using a single incident as a starting point, and from that going on to expound on something with much broader ramifications.

He was dead right.

Chris Donnelly: Republican bands deserve place at Fleadh just as much as loyalists

David McCann: Sinn Féin need to learn lesson of choosing wrong Stormont departments

And this week it’s going to be no different.

Last week at Chez McArt we had overseas visitors, one of whom was a 15-year-old girl. She turned out to be very friendly, highly intelligent and full of opinions. And I delighted in chatting with her.

She still has that innocence, that idealism that teenagers have.

Full of enthusiasm and can-do attitude, she wants to be one of the people who goes out and changes the world. Fair play to her.

For a cynical, worn-out media hack like myself, it does my soul good to talk to someone full of optimism, full of hope, God bless her. I hope she gets to live her dreams.

But as we were sitting talking last Sunday morning, I happened to turn on the radio for the news headlines on RTÉ and the lead item was........

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