It's Been St. Patrick's Day For Hours...

...and I'm still not drunk yet! Although I did have a Guinness with lunch at Ned Devine's in Herndon.

There's only a small percentage of my bloodline that's Irish, yet the German in me accepts any reason to drink beer. Or is it the American in me? I find that a lot of Americans use holidays, especially those with traditions tied to "the old country", to get snockered. Perhaps this is because we're party people. Or, perhaps it's just a way to celebrate our shared American heritage. The U.S. is, after all, a melting pot. And while we've developed our own unique culture in the world, there will always be a throw-back to our roots.

I recently read an article about a bar in NYC whose Irish owner has banned "Danny Boy" from being sung throughout the month of March. (I won't go into the details of his decision, just click on the link if you want to know more.) To that I say, "Lighten Up!!" So what if it's not Irish tradition? We've made it our own tradition, and it happens to coincide with a holiday that originates in a different country. I mean, it's his bar, and he can do whatever he wants, but COME ON!

Whether it's Irish-American, African-American, German-American, Asian-American, Rasta-American, Mexican-American, or Hillbilly-American tradition, it's still American. Nothing makes my heart swell with patriotic pride like fucking up a perfectly good traditional holiday and slapping the suffix American on it. It's just our way of giving props to our forebears while we celebrate our current position as a heterogeneous society. Hell, sometimes we just make them up to show we're still proud of our ancestry, like with Kwanzaa and Columbus Day.

Whatever holiday(s) you prefer to celebrate every year, or however you decide to celebrate is just aces with me. I, like many true blue Americans, prefer alcohol. So drink up! Everyone's Irish-American today!!