St. Pat's Day has me thinking about the mental power of ethnicity.

[Deep13]

As a mostly Anglo-American and a non-Catholic, I haven't ever celebrated St. Patrick's Day. Nothing against it, just not my thing. My own blood is roughly half English/Yankee, 1/8 German and the rest French. This of course means that my circulatory system is at war with itself. I'm a biological battle of Waterloo, or WWI, or Franco-Prussian war or 100 Year's War. And it's not like one parent was one thing and the other the other two things. It's all mixed up for many generations. There is so much historical animosity among the French, the English and the Germans that if I were inclined to ancestral pride and ancestral animosity, I would have to hate myself.

Fortunately, there is a way out of that. I reject the idea of ancestral offense just as I reject original sin. I've never oppressed anyone and no other ethnic group has oppressed me. People are responsible for their own actions (including anything bad happening now or in living memory), but not for those of their parents.

In that spirit, I would like to offer a virtual toast to all those who celebrate St. Patrick's Day. I trust you will not mind if I toast your Jameson's with my Scotch or my cognac since we are all friends here.

:toast: :party: :bounce: :think: :beer: