There’s a moment in Lyra McKee’s new Lyra documentary, Lyra, that will make you stop.
Midway through the film, it delves into a late journalist’s experience becoming a lesbian, something that would form the basis for her famous Tedx Talk and later a mural in the memoirs. her chest.
In 2014, just 5 years before her death, the then 24-year-old journalist wrote ‘A letter to my 14-year-old self’, which was originally published on her website, The Muckraker. It’s an essay directed at her teenage self, a published chronicle, about her loved ones and living life as she really is.
In Alison Millar’s documentary, excerpts of the letter read by Lyra herself, are played through touching footage of her family and a mural created on Kent Street in Belfast in her memory. “It won’t always be like this. It will get better,” it wrote.
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A quote from Lyra McKee’s letter to her teenage years is on display on Belfast’s Kent Street, in a mural painted in memory of the late journalist. Photo provided by Wildcard Distribution
A quote from Lyra McKee’s letter to her teenage years is on display on Belfast’s Kent Street, in a mural painted in memory of the late journalist. Photo provided by Wildcard Distribution
In the letter, she opens with “Kid, it’ll be fine,” before outlining all the good things she’s about to experience. The loneliness and alienation she feels due to her sexuality will be replaced by acceptance and concern from those around her. The things she feared the most would be the monsters under the bed, destroyed by the morning light.
At one point, she said, “You’ll remember all the times you asked God to help you because you were so scared.” For Lyra, growing up in a religiously divided Derry meant grappling with feelings that were at odds with what she was taught in church and society.
She believed that homosexuality and religion were mutually exclusive. This is echoed in the touching documentary when Lyra tells an enthralled audience at the Tedx Stormont Women’s summit about the often complicated relationship between religion and sex.
Her discussion of young gay people seeking freedom from religious oppression, as well as the need to change the way religions interact with the LGBTQ+ community, received a standing ovation. This is a particularly poignant part of the film because, later on, she has an audience. on their feet again, only this time at her funeral.
The main takeaway from Lyra’s talk and the letter she wrote to her teenage self is the great power of hope. As a ‘Ceasefire Baby’ raised in the shadow of Troubles, and a young gay woman terrified of her reality, hope is the candle that lights up her darkest days.
“Life has not only become easier, but so much better,” she wrote, sharing academic and personal successes that the 14-year-old never could have foreseen. She will love and love everyone, but never the press. She will make friends, attend parties and live a ‘normal’ life.
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What she couldn’t have predicted was her tragic end, of course, but the strong hope that Lyra expressed, and wanted her 14-year-old self to feel, remained in her legacy. So it’s fitting that her closing line is the most hopeful of all: “Keep trying, kid. It’s worth it. I love you.”
Lyra opens in cinemas on Friday, November 4.
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/kid-its-going-to-be-ok-lyra-mckees-letter-to-her-14-year-old-self-contains-a-powerful-message-about-hope-42115108.html ‘Kid, everything will be okay’: Lyra McKee’s letter to 14-year-old girl contains a powerful message of hope
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