My earliest memory of tribalism,

In grade school it came up.

I wasn’t anything obviously ethnic when the Italian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, German-Americans, Portuguese-Americans, and Chinese-Americans called out,

Until I had the monicker of IRISH-American…really I’m an Anglo Mutt, but Irish is what rose to the top, and from then to today, that is my most immediate identification,

IRISH,

In my sorrow and suffering and joy as well, IRISH,

And so this from me to you,

“May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.”

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day ~