Bloody Sunday, also known as the Bogside Massacre, was a massacre of Irish anti-internment protesters by the British government that took place on this day in 1972 in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland.
Bloody Sunday resulted in the highest number of people killed in a shooting incident during the Troubles and remains the worst mass shooting in Northern Irish history. This violence was in response to a protest organized by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) in opposition to a state policy of internment without trial, introduced in August of 1971.
On January 18th, 1972, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Brian Faulkner banned all parades and marches in response to widespread civil unrest. The protest march was organized despite this order.
On the day of the protest, approximately 10,000-15,000 joined the march, however their path was blocked by British Army barriers. The protest descended into chaos, with British soldiers chasing down protesters and attacking them indiscriminately. 26 people were shot, 14 were killed. Many of the victims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers or attending to the wounded, while others were injured by shrapnel, rubber bullets, batons, or being ran down by army vehicles.
The soldiers were from the 1st Battalion Parachute Army, which had perpetrated the Ballymurphy Massacre just months prior. The events of Bloody Sunday greatly increased hostilities between Northern Ireland and the British government. Support for and recruitment by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) rose following the massacre.
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(TW: Drugs, gross shit.)
So my friend is a heroin addict. One of the things I love about them is how unashamed they are; I think they told me they do goofballs (meth + heroin mixed in a shot) the very first conversation we had. They’re a “proud junkie” who unironically loves movies like Trainspotting and Requiem for a Dream.
Constipation is a side effect of opioids. Some people go weeks without shitting, and my friend is one of those people.
For junkies, taking a shit is a major life event.
And here’s the funny part, something that I think really illustrates how colorful my friend’s personality is: one time I contacted them because I needed to go see them (I used to buy drugs from them lol, more on that later), and they said something like, “Give me a minute, I have to do…something that I have to do before I can have anyone over.”
I replied something like, “You’re pooping, aren’t you?”
And they were like, “Yep.”
Another funny story:
One time, about a year ago exactly, I was trying to quit meth, and so I asked them not to sell to me anymore. They agreed.
I very quickly gave up, and when I texted them asking if I could pick up they replied, “No you may not.”
Then another time I went to their place and fucking begged for them to sell me drugs and one of the things they said was, “Uh let me think about that for a seco— No.”
It actually wound up catalyzing the end of our friendship. Since Halloween the previous year (2022), when they made plans with two friends of theirs, I started thinking a lot about how I had to come up with “excuses” to go see them, and how I wasn’t an “organic” part of their life like their other friends. We didn’t live in the same neighborhood. Our lives hardly intersected at all. I wished that they were like my other friends, where I could just pull up and knock on their door, or randomly see them while I’m out. When I did see them, it was sort of…artificial, like I only got to see them when they felt like hanging out. I wasn’t a “part of their life.” The only exception, really, was when I was picking up from them. Even if I only got to see them very briefly, it was great.
And so not only did I get to see them less, I had to be around my current guy, and deal with his inane bullshit, and all the disgusting ass people in that neighborhood, which made me think about them and pine and wish it were them instead of him (I started developing a friendship with him that I wish I had with them; I wish I could’ve gone to see them every day, and watch their bus while they’re out, and listen to their problems instead of his psycho ramblings), and then one day I was extremely emotional and made a post on /r/UnsentLetters, and then…yeah.
It sucks that I will never get to know them.
I actually accused them of doing that—the not selling to me thing—to get rid of me. They said no; they were just trying to be a good friend.
One of the “excuses” I made to see them was asking for their help getting a copy of my birth certificate, because I needed to have someone vouch for me, that I’m the person I say I am, because I don’t have ID, to have this document notarized. I didn’t even have to ask them. I just mentioned I needed someone to do that and they said yeah. And then the night before they said they were willing to “pull an all-nighter” if I wanted to do it in the morning (i.e. they offered to stay up so they would be awake in the morning, if that makes any sense).
*sigh*