St. Patrick's Day

Cast your mind on other days

That we in coming days

May still be the indomitable Irishry

~ W.B. Yeats

A few years ago I met an Irish man in Poland who asked if I was Irish-American. "Because," he said, "I have yet to meet an American who isn't." It's true that Americans with Irish blood are inordinately proud of it, and those without . . . sort of wish they were. Today St. Patrick's Day parades and festivals across the USA rival those in any other country, including Ireland!

I know that I was entranced by Ireland's history and culture from a very young age. When my fourth grade classmates listened to Mariah Carey, I was busy with the Chieftains. I found an excuse to write a paper on Ireland nearly every year throughout high school and college, whether it was on the famine, the Book of Kells, or Seamus Heaney's poetry. And then there was that time when I was twelve and tried to speak in an Irish brogue for about a week. (Hint: it's a great way to alienate family and friends!)

But St. Patrick's Day is more than just about Irish pride and downing as much Guinness as humanly possible; the fifth century in Ireland was witness to something rare in history: mass conversion without bloodshed. Patrick gathered his followers by incorporating their beliefs into his own. 

Religious intolerance seems to be at a peak lately all over the world, and I find hope in St. Patrick's work, that one religion can work with another without violence. So I ask readers to take a moment to wish that religious leaders globally spread messages of cooperation and peace. Now go get that Guinness.