Lori Falce: St. Patrick's Day and the legacy of Ireland

Ireland has given the world a lot.

There’s whiskey, which is probably enough of a reason for many to celebrate all on its own. But it also was an Irishman who was credited with introducing to Europe the idea of hot chocolate.

For Catholics, there’s the sacrament of confession, which owes its roots to a sixth-century Irish monk. If you’ve said a Hail Mary and cleansed your soul, thank the Irish.

Scientifically, Ireland gave us chemistry and Boyle’s Law about pressure and volume and gas that you learned in 10th grade and promptly forgot. Induction coils, electrons and the steam turbine? All Irish in origin. Medically, the Emerald Isle offered up stethoscopes and syringes. Without it, we have no meat curing — and no bacon.

Maybe the best gift Ireland has offered is in the way it has spread its genes across the world. There are 5 million people living in Ireland. Add in Northern Ireland — technically part of the United Kingdom — and you get just shy of 7 million total.

But in America alone, about 32 million people — almost 10% of the population — identify with Irish ancestry. In some areas, up to 20% of a community has a little Irish lilt in their family tree. It is second only to German as the genetic background of our people.

That is why it can be so easy for people to embrace their inner Celticness on St. Patrick’s Day — even if it’s not in their DNA. “Kiss me, I’m Irish” is used as a password to the festivities, even for those whose ancestors never kissed the Blarney stone.

And that is proof that we can put aside differences when we want. We can make a decision to get on the same page, even if the common ground we share is a green beer. Even the Catholic Church gets involved, waiving the “no meat on Fridays during Lent” rule for a corned beef sandwich in honor of Ireland’s patron saint.

So why can’t we decide to set aside other issues? Why can’t people realize that there are fair points on all sides, break some soda bread and talk about things that matter more than personalities and politics?

St. Patrick is apocryphally credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland. While that might sound like an obvious invitation to say “what we need is to drive the snakes out of politics,” that’s cliched and simplistic. It isn’t that we want to keep the snakes. It’s that we have to recognize we don’t all agree on who (or what) the snakes are.

Instead, we need people — not just government — who are willing to work together without turning even the slightest difference into a civil war.

We can look to the Irish on that, too — perhaps less as example than cautionary tale after centuries of conflict between England and Ireland.

So on St. Patrick’s Day, have your whiskey and your corned beef. Celebrate that thin wedge of Irish background your DNA test said you have.

But remember that Ireland has been ripped apart by wars over who believes what, and ask yourself if that’s the legacy you want.