It is very easy to get depressed about the current lack of progress in the peace process. There is little sign of any formula for getting the power-sharing Executive back on track. But if the present tragedy unfolding in Zimbabwe shows us anything, it is that getting the political structures in place, however hopeful, is only the beginning. Here, at least, the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland continue to give us hope for the future. Relations between the communities are quite different from the virtual apartheid that existed 20 years ago.
Nobody wants to return to the tribalism and violence of the past.
It may take a little longer to get the politics right, but there is a deep yearning to secure the peace and to build a future which both communities can share together.