Let's get serious about St. Patrick's Day....

You know, it bothers me that in this country we have reduced the Irish to a beer-swilling, green-clad caricature. All the pithy sayings, the forward-looking toasts, and the alcoholic-as-poet archetype do nothing to recognize the incredible gifts the Irish have brought to western civilization. In fact, if not for the monks in the remote areas of Ireland, much of the literature we now hold as the foundations of western thought might not even exist anymore. In reality, the Irish penchant for bonhomie is really just a salve for the centuries of pain, famine, and subjugation this gifted people have had to withstand. The thanks we give them? Choosing a day to get drunk on green beer and carry on with ridiculously bad Irish accents that do nothing but besmirch the quickly disappearing tongue of this ancient race. Shame on humanity for lowering ourselves to this standard. In fact I ...... I ....... I ............. Oh fuck it! Kiss me blarneys, boys!