What Is It To Be Irish?

On 364 days of the year being Irish isn't visibly different from being Scotch, French, Italian, Jewish, Serbian, Dutch, or - yes - even English. The Irishman pays his bills, complains against his taxes, does his work, and listens to his wife like the man of any other race.

But on this one day of the year - holy St. Patrick's Day - the Irishman becomes an Irishman.

And on this day you have to be Irish to know what it is to be Irish. The outer signs, of course, can be seen by all. The Irishman overnight grows a foot taller and stalks the earth a giant. All traffic lights turn green before him, and if they don't,
he sees red.

But this air of majesty is only token evidence of interior change. The men of other races who envy the Irishman his bearing of St. Patrick's Day would envy him far more if they could look inside the Irishman's soul. What is it to be Irish?

How can you put the wonder of it into words? If a psychiatrist stretched himself out on his own warm couch after his last customer had gone home, and he dreamed of the man he himself would most like to be - well, he might be perfect, but he'd still be only half an Irishman on St. Patrick's Day.

What is it to be Irish?

Oh, on this day it is music. Not just the cornet in the parading high school band, but the deep, deep music of living, the low sad rhythms of eternity.

What is it to be Irish?

It is to live the whole history of his race between a dawn and a dawn - the long wrongs, the bird-swift joys, the endless hurt of his ancestors since the morning of time in a forgotten forest, the knock at his heart that is part of his religion.

What is it to be Irish?

It isn't only the realization that he is descended from kings. It is the realization that he is a king himself, an empire on two feet striding in power,
a strolling continent of awe.

What is it to be Irish?

Why on St. Patrick's Day, to be Irish is to know more glory, adventure, magic, victory, exultation, gratitude and gladness than any ordinary man can experience in a lifetime.

What is it to be Irish?

It is to walk in complete mystic understanding with God for 24 wonderful hours.


Author: Hal Boyle