SNIPPET: Poet and professor Brendan KENNELLY was born in Co. Kerry in 1936 and educated at St. Ita's College and Trinity College, Dublin. "If you asked me to name one factor that makes Ireland the quietly irresistible land it is, I would reply that time has failed to establish its customary tyranny over the lives of many of the people and so they are free to develop their personalities, indulge their natural inclination toward talk and animated story-telling while always giving the impression that you, the second party in the leisurely dialogue, are a much more interesting and articulate person than you ever dreamed yourself to be. This is not flattery, this is acute recognition of your human value. Ireland is a place where character and personality are cherished far ahead of theory and abstraction. This generates a special warmth in the social atmosphere which nurtures the heart and stimulates the mind. It also means that the Irish take time to find the right words, the most apt and evocative images, the most precise phrases in which to state their views on every topic under the sun. Recently an old friend of mine died in Cork. He was one of the most inspiring talkers and story-tellers I've known: and as I travelled over the Kerry and Cork mountains to pay my last respects to him, the people with whom I was traveling spoke nonstop about his stories and wit, his escapades and adventures, his passion for sport and his love of people, his fiery interest in politics, his love of staying up all night and welcoming in the dawn light with stories of old friends and enemies. As I listened, I knew in my heart that one of the greatest Irish qualities is the passionate refusal to commit a dead friend to oblivion; instead, there is this eloquent loving insistence on talking about the strands of his personality, the events of his life, his favorite phrases, the quality of his humor, his outbursts of temper, his loves, prejudices, weaknesses, virtues, vices, stories. Stories, always stories. Far enough, when you take the time to think of it. What's a man or woman in the end, and after the end, but the loving, lively, incisive ways in which we remember and tell our stories about him or her? That's an individual's history. History, his story. It is also the most acute expression of the Irish love of a person's uniqueness. This is a true and reassuring value in a world where individuals are increasingly treated as cogs in a machine. In Ireland you are, on the whole, cherished for your uniqueness.... Everywhere you go in Ireland you meet beautiful children. I fondly cherish the thought that they too will grow to be people-lovers, nature-lovers and story-lovers like so many of those it has been my privilege to meet, traveling in this old land that has preserved a startling youthfulness through all if its trials and tribulations. Ireland, still resisting the dull tyranny of time, the mechanical dominance of clock, watch and calendar, retains this wonderful blend of a child's sparkling enthusiasm with an old survivor's gritty wisdom as it offers, calmly and almost shyly, its many heart-warming charms to a needy world. The more you get to know this little country, the more fascinating it becomes. It is, in the deepest sense, one of the richest corners of the earth."