St Patrick's Day Tomorrow; Terry Nelson Doesn't Expect to Celebrate

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Terry Nelson of Abbey-Roads2 on one of his dozen or so posts of the day is on a tirade about the Irish, especially on St Patrick's Day. He has found the American Irish to be, especially on St Patrick's Day, to be quite a bit obnoxious. It’s a debauched and alcoholic holiday. It has nothing to do with St. Patrick, save the name. It has become an excuse to party, to behave in the most rude, vulgar and undignified manner possible by the ‘best of people’, all in the name of a saint.

Comment:
Being 50-50 of the best of the what the world has to offer, Polish and Irish, I'll pipe in here.

And pretty much agree with you.

You mention that you don't have much devotion for St Patrick. I don't think anybody does. I've not heard of anybody ever praying to him to find their keys, fix their Internet connection, cure their lumbago or solve any other of thousands of human problems.

It is interesting that St Patrick's Day comes in the middle of Lent and all of our Bishops treat it like they treat pro-choice politicians: "That's all right, boys."

There weren't many Irish in Duluth when I was growing up and even the Irish nuns and priests didn't make a big deal about St Patrick's Day. And nobody went out and drank because it was Lent. Or they weren't 21 yet.

My Irish Mom never made a big deal of St Patrick's Day other than serving corned beef and cabbage (which we all hated, I think, I have to say "I think" because I have a brother who "religiously" reads this blog and never fails to lets me know if my memory with respect to family history has begun to fail).

But the two things she lectured me on as I was about to head off to college in the big city was "Don't wear orange on St Patrick's Day" and "Let moderation be your guide."

I'm proud to say that I kept her first request and sheepishly admit that I haven't always observed the second over the years. But I'm trying.