MORE THAN JUST SHAMROCKS AND LEPRECHAUNS

“Don’t worry baby. I won’t miss the start of the party,” Brian said as he was driving to his Grandfather’s house.

His girlfriend on the other end of the line responded, “You better not miss the start,” with a chuckle. “Is your grandfather really that grouchy?” 

“Yes!” Brian responded. “There’s a reason I haven’t seen him since my high school graduation. If it wasn’t for this family history report I have to pass in by tomorrow I would not be seeing him until Christmas.” 

Brian got a beep on his phone; his mother was calling him. “Babe I got to go my Ma’s calling me. I promise I won’t be late.”

“Hi Ma, Happy St. Patrick’s Day.” Brain answers his Ma’s call. 

“Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you too, you meeting with Papa today?”

“Yeeeessss! I’m meeting with him. I’m almost pulling up to his house now. Do you think he consciously means to be mean or is he just naturally a grouch?” 

“Oh be nice to your Papa. He’s just set in his ways. Just remember he loves you.” Ma says with a light hearted laugh.

“Yea, he loves to bust my chops! I’ll give you a call when I’m done interviewing him. I love you Ma.”

“Love you too. Remember to be nice.” Ma said as she hung up the phone.

As Brian pulled up to his Grandfather’s house and turned off the ignition he grabbed his book bag and stepped out of the car. He was dressed in his St. Patrick’s Day’s finest. A bright green Boston Celtics Tee-shirt, with a ‘Kiss me I’m Irish’ button pinned on it. Green skinny jeans, white sneakers with green shamrocks he colored in on them, and his green hair that his girlfriend dyed last night. He couldn’t have been happier with his outfit for the party later. 

He walked up to the front door of his Grandfather’s house and pushed the doorbell. He heard his Grandfather coming to the door and unlocking the lock. As his Grandfather opened the door he let out a surprise laugh and said:

“Is this my Grandson or a green clown?!” 

“Ha Ha, Very funny Papa.” 

“Look at you all grown up. You almost look like a man. Come on in.” 

Brian didn’t know if he should take that as a compliment or not. He just smiled and walked in. 

They sat down at the dining room table and Brian pulled out his notebook from his book bag. Before he could ask his Grandfather any questions his Grandfather asked: 

“What is up with that green hair?”

“Come on Papa its St. Patrick’s day.” Brain answered annoyed.

“What the hell do you know about St. Patrick?” Papa asked looking for an argument.

“He’s the Patron Saint of Ireland.” Brian answered all proud that he knew one of Papa’s questions.

“Oh, is he my boy? Why is he the Patron Saint of Ireland?” Papa asked in a condescending tone.

“I don’t know.” Brian answered annoyed. He did not come here for this.

“Oh, the college boy with the green hair doesn’t know. Well let me enlighten you a little you plastic paddy.

All Brian could do was sit there and listen. Ma said to be nice.

“St. Patrick was of Roman decent. He was kidnapped by a Irish King and brought to Ireland to be a slave in the 5th century. He spent 6 years in Ireland but stayed devoted to his Christian faith and prayers. He escaped one day to France and joined the priesthood. But you know what? He came back to Ireland 20 years later and brought Christianity to the Irish people. You see he learned a lot about the Irish customs and languages when he was a slave and that helped him with converting the Irish people to Christianity.”

“I didn’t know all that.” Brain said.

“Where do you think the shamrock comes from?” Asked Papa.

“Ireland!” Brian answers quickly.

Papa shakes his head “Being Irish is a whole lot more than just shamrocks and leprechauns.” Papa hesitated a moment, “You see, St. Patrick used the shamrock as a way to show the Irish people the union of the holy trinity. Each leaf representing one of the Father, he Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Brian just nodded, impressed to learn what he just heard. Knowing his Grandfather could talk for hours with his Irish gift of gab he spoke up and said to Papa “I gotta meet up with some friends soon.  I’d like to know the sad and troubling effect the great famine had on the Irish people.” He asked the question as if he was reading it off his class assignment sheet.

Papa said “Yea, the great famine was a sad and troubling time in our history, but it was one of the best things to happen to our people.”

Now, Brian was really confused. He thought to himself, ‘did Papa really just say that?’ He thought Papa has finally lost his mind.

“How could you say that the famine was one of the best things to happen? That’s crazy even for you Papa.”

“The famine did kill over a million Irish. The famine did break up our families. And the famine did drive millions of Irish to immigrate to other countries. But that immigration is what saved the Irish people.” Papa declared.

“How?!” Brian asked confused and interested.

“You see the English hated us Irish. They oppressed us for hundreds of years. When the famine hit Ireland in the 1840’s the English are the ones who let us starve and die. We as a people had no choice but to immigrate.”

“OK, but how is that a good thing Papa?” Asked Brian.

“That immigration gave us freedom to do and learn what we wanted to. The English tried to take away who we were. They outlawed our language, our religion, and our culture. When we came to America we learned so much. We were allowed to work and save our money. We learned how to fight. Did you know that we Irish had our own regiments in the Civil War? We were fighting in the Union Army! Learning how to fight in a war was what got us our nation.”

“How did fighting in the U.S. Civil War get us our nation? Asked Brian.

“A lot of the Irish who fought in the Civil War ended up going back to Ireland after the war was over. They now had the knowledge of warfare and a little bit of money. They had a few uprisings when they went back, but nothing that made a big impact. But, he Irish who came back they started to teach and pass on he information and knowledge they learned while fighting in the States. Young Irish kids who learned from these soldiers are responsible for the 1916 uprising that eventually led to our freedom.” Papa went on to say “you see the worst thing to happen to our people is what led us to our freedom. If the hate he English had for us wasn’t so strong and they just fed us, we wouldn’t have comeback so strong as we did. It’s that Irish stubbornness and pride that wouldn’t let us roll over and die.”

Brian had a wave of emotions his him at once. Pride, sadness, confusion. He wanted to know more.

“Why did the English want us dead? What happened in the 1916 uprising? Who were the leaders then?” Brian asked wanting to know everything.

“Oh, we’ll save that for another time. You gotta go meet up with your friends and drink your green beer.” Papa said with a laugh and then added “I gotta go take a nap. That green hair is giving me a headache. You can let yourself out.”

By Padraig Collins