IrishBeat.com

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Eve to everyone! The holiday has gotten into full swing in Chicago, with the river already dyed green and the big parade planned for tomorrow. My favorite band, Great Big Sea, is performing at The Riviera tonight. If you’re not familiar with them, GBS is a celtic-inspired band from New Foundland. They mix traditional Irish music with modern-day folk and have one of the craziest fan bases around. (Think Grateful Dead followers, but swap acid with Guinness and you’ll get the picture.) Can’t wait to raise a pint with the Great Big Sea faithful tonight!

 Anyone else got interesting plans out there?

An Irish Archbishop came out in support of continuing to segregate Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland’s school system.

Now, I’m against segregation in any form, but when the oppressed group is asking for the division so they can better educate their children, I have to stop and rethink my position.

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still thinking

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Nope, it hasn’t changed.  As long as Catholics and Protestants insists on living apart in Northern Ireland, they’ll never truly live together.

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The last watchtower has come down in Northern Ireland, signaling a belief that the country has — at last — found true and lasting peace.

It makes me hopeful that, perhaps one day, we will see an end to Iraq’s occupation and its bloody civil war. Can the Shiites and Sunnis resolve their differences peacefully (if not fully) like the Protestants and Catholics have done? Will they stop using subtle differences in their worship of the same God as a reason to kill each other like the formerly warring factions in Northern Ireland are trying to do?

And will the atrocities that occurred under the occupying nation’s watch be partially atoned for by its commitment to solving the problem?

I’m not sure any of this is possible. And even if it is how long will it take and at what cost will it be?

If The Troubles taught us anything, the answer is too long and too high.

Still any step toward peace should be celebrated by the world’s citizens.

So here’s a bittersweet cheers to the Upper 6. May you be an example to others.