On the local news this week a woman touted the return of the Irish language and how lessons were being given locally to children to revive the language. Parades started on Saturday in the Kansas City metropolitan area and will go on through St. Patrick’s Day. Irish flags will fly, green beer will flow, Irish soda bread baked, in other words a culture of immigrants from generations ago will be revived for a few hours. It was just a couple of weeks ago that the French celebration of Carnival or as we call it here Mardi Gras was celebrated in New Orleans and other areas of the country. And then of course in May there will be Cinco de Mayo when the Mexican culture will be celebrated with Margaritas, tacos, and altars to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The list of countries whose descendents celebrate the heritage of their mothers, fathers, grandparents and in many cases great grandparents flight to America is long and we as a “people” embrace these celebrations within our borders providing the country being celebrated is not Mid-Eastern. Can you imagine the chaos that would be caused if the descendents of Iranians, Libyans, or Iraqis scheduled parades that shut down city streets on business days, or required extra security to keep revelers in check, or worse yet openly bragged about teaching new generations their language of origin. Why it would be considered an affront to the flag, a near act of treason. Sometimes I wonder if we are truly the home of the brave and the land of the free or if because of the hate filled hearts of old men we have lost our way. Must we always have a group of people that that we cast to the bottom in this country?
stpatricksday Irish MidEastern green