St. Patrick’s Day is for all of us

“The truth shall set you free.” This biblical injunction was honored in the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. Although both men deserve immense gratitude for their contributions to freedom, another name deserves to be on that list: St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, whose holiday is celebrated today throughout the world by people who often have little understanding of all that he stood for and accomplished.

As a teenager, Patrick was captured by Irish raiders and taken into slavery. In despair, Patrick turned to intense prayer as a means of achieving tranquility. Six years later he escaped his captors. Patrick’s suffering left him with a desire to end the practice of slavery and to spread the truths of his religion.

These convictions were so deep that he voluntarily returned years later to share his convictions with the Irish. Despite the fact that his letters express a concern for the victims of slavery, it is also likely that Patrick worked directly with the leaders of the slave trade to persuade them of the evils of their awful practice.

St. Patrick’s heroic story continues to resonate down through the ages over 15 centuries after his death. His battle to overcome slavery, oppression and personal hardship serves as a moral lesson for freedom-loving people everywhere. St. Patrick’s battle against slavery also reminds us how much the Irish have overcome on the way to achieving political freedom and their own cultural identity.

From 1641 to 1652, more than 550,000 Irish were killed by the English and 300,000 were forced to live as near slaves within their own country. Eventually Oliver Cromwell’s army completed the British colonization of Ireland.

Far from compromising their Irish heritage, however, the bitterness left by the Cromwellian invasion inspired a strong sense of Irish nationalism that endured for another three hundred years. Irish perseverance during the British occupation served as a ringing declaration of fortitude in the face of suffering.

The same fortitude and cultural cohesion also sustained the Irish during the massive emigration from their homeland that took place following the Great Irish Famine. In the mid-1840s, the potato crop that the Irish depended on as their main source of food was attacked by a terrible fungus. Two million people were swept away by disease and hunger. Another two million fled for the land of freedom, America.

Although they came for a life of abundance, they lived in squalor. As competitors for jobs, the Irish were hated by American workers. “No Irish Need Apply” was a sign that was so common it was often abbreviated as “NINA.” Since jobs outside of construction were hard to find, these impoverished Gaels lived in the crowded immigrant ghettos of the Northeast. Mortality rates were high. If the agrarian roots of the Irish scarcely equipped them for economic survival in American cities, their cultural heritage instilled in them a stubborn resistance to their new foes. They relied on solidarity to survive.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians, a nationalist society formed in Ireland, helped the Irish maintain a sense of their own pride and dignity. For Irishmen in nineteenth century America, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day was not just a way to escape the horrors of their existence in the New World, but a means of holding on to who they really were.

In fact, the holiday was celebrated with greater fervor here than in Ireland as Irish immigrants used it to boost their distinctive identity and morale.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day not only honors Irish contributions to America, but celebrates the glory of American diversity. Those who are not Irish are encouraged to join in the celebration as a reminder of the battle all newcomers face in finding their rightful place as Americans. St. Patrick’s Day belongs to the Italians, the African-Americans, the Jews, the Arabs, the Hispanics, the Germans, the Chinese and all other immigrants who have fought to win their own place under America’s sun.

St. Patrick’s pursuit of freedom epitomizes a basic American ideal, namely that an outsider, an outcast and even a one-time vagabond, by working hard and living responsibly, can achieve the American Dream.

> South Forsyth High senior Chad Wisinger won essay contest on St. Patrick’s Day.



Source: ajc.com