St. Patrick's Day continued
I wish I had written this:
From: The Blood and the Mud and the beer
Maybe it's part of getting older, but on a personal level St. Paddy's Day is cause for some deep introspection as to who I am, why I've become a certain type of person, what my innate talents are, and why my ambitions are what they are. I tend not to come up with any specific conclusions, but permeating all of it is a distinct and identifiable Irishness that I only really recognized in the past few years. For example, I tend to be sentimental and pensive, I have a strong sense of justice, and I'm drawn to politics and literature (just not the garbage written by James Joyce). Oh, and I'm told that I'm opinionated. In most ways I'm extraordinarily American in my attitudes and beliefs, but beneath it all there's an Irish quality that shapes and tempers this.
That's the individual side of the holiday, and each year this becomes more important and the day is more meaningful. But on a more macro level, I'm angered by the fact that St. Patrick's Day has become a mockery -- one where the Irish are the ones who demean themselves. It hardly seems an appropriate way to reflect on one's heritage by picking this day that used to be considered holy and using it as little more than an excuse to get fall-down drunk.
The other thing that gets me is that Irish American politics has become a total farce; what once was a serious day of assessing and lobbying for certain US policies on Irish freedom, now on St. Patrick's Day is you can expect little more than some phony reception at the White House where the President makes a token statement about the commitment America has to Catholics in Northern Ireland. And I can hardly wait to see what serial-liar John Kerry says, given that he seems to laud his non-existent Irish heritage whenever he's out looking for votes.
But aside from these American shenanigans, extremely important things are going on in Ulster, developments that could mean a complete breakdown of Nationalist/Unionist cooperation and could eventually cause the resurrection of the Provisional IRA. Among Americans it is either ignored or unrecognized that the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which established a power sharing government in Belfast, is about to collapse. Irish American politicians seem completely ignorant of the fact that when Unionist Party leader David Trimble was continually placated by the British this changed the nature of the entire GFA, once again placing Irish Catholics in Ulster in a subservient position. That Sinn Fein, a party with 24 percent electoral support, is about to be excluded from the negotiations should give us all pause -- especially given that Gerry Adams may have single-handedly convinced the IRA to adhere to its current six-year cease fire.
But no, none of this will be discussed today. Instead we’ll talk about the most banal things and pat ourselves on the back for little more than having particular surnames.
So today I suppose I'll simply try to appreciate both sides of this Irish American dynamic: after spending the afternoon grading, I'm headed out to the Dubliner on Capitol Hill to drink some Guinness and maybe get a plate of corned beef and cabbage (an American invention). Yet while I "celebrate," I'll lament the fact that that St. Patrick's Day lacks any of the seriousness and gravity it once had, and thus I'll grieve a little for the days when being Irish in America meant something other than an excuse to get drunk or a means to pander for votes.
In this light, tiocfaidh ar la assumes a somewhat interesting, more complex meaning.
From: The Blood and the Mud and the beer
Maybe it's part of getting older, but on a personal level St. Paddy's Day is cause for some deep introspection as to who I am, why I've become a certain type of person, what my innate talents are, and why my ambitions are what they are. I tend not to come up with any specific conclusions, but permeating all of it is a distinct and identifiable Irishness that I only really recognized in the past few years. For example, I tend to be sentimental and pensive, I have a strong sense of justice, and I'm drawn to politics and literature (just not the garbage written by James Joyce). Oh, and I'm told that I'm opinionated. In most ways I'm extraordinarily American in my attitudes and beliefs, but beneath it all there's an Irish quality that shapes and tempers this.
That's the individual side of the holiday, and each year this becomes more important and the day is more meaningful. But on a more macro level, I'm angered by the fact that St. Patrick's Day has become a mockery -- one where the Irish are the ones who demean themselves. It hardly seems an appropriate way to reflect on one's heritage by picking this day that used to be considered holy and using it as little more than an excuse to get fall-down drunk.
The other thing that gets me is that Irish American politics has become a total farce; what once was a serious day of assessing and lobbying for certain US policies on Irish freedom, now on St. Patrick's Day is you can expect little more than some phony reception at the White House where the President makes a token statement about the commitment America has to Catholics in Northern Ireland. And I can hardly wait to see what serial-liar John Kerry says, given that he seems to laud his non-existent Irish heritage whenever he's out looking for votes.
But aside from these American shenanigans, extremely important things are going on in Ulster, developments that could mean a complete breakdown of Nationalist/Unionist cooperation and could eventually cause the resurrection of the Provisional IRA. Among Americans it is either ignored or unrecognized that the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which established a power sharing government in Belfast, is about to collapse. Irish American politicians seem completely ignorant of the fact that when Unionist Party leader David Trimble was continually placated by the British this changed the nature of the entire GFA, once again placing Irish Catholics in Ulster in a subservient position. That Sinn Fein, a party with 24 percent electoral support, is about to be excluded from the negotiations should give us all pause -- especially given that Gerry Adams may have single-handedly convinced the IRA to adhere to its current six-year cease fire.
But no, none of this will be discussed today. Instead we’ll talk about the most banal things and pat ourselves on the back for little more than having particular surnames.
So today I suppose I'll simply try to appreciate both sides of this Irish American dynamic: after spending the afternoon grading, I'm headed out to the Dubliner on Capitol Hill to drink some Guinness and maybe get a plate of corned beef and cabbage (an American invention). Yet while I "celebrate," I'll lament the fact that that St. Patrick's Day lacks any of the seriousness and gravity it once had, and thus I'll grieve a little for the days when being Irish in America meant something other than an excuse to get drunk or a means to pander for votes.
In this light, tiocfaidh ar la assumes a somewhat interesting, more complex meaning.
