St. Patrick's Day...

I'm not really sure I get what the big deal is with this day. Really, WHY is it a holiday? I suppose for this short shift today I am going to find out what the deal is with St. Patty's Day and determine whether I have any desire whatsoever to take part. Perhaps if I was Irish I would feel some compelling need to take part in the festivities, but I'm not Irish. So I do NOT feel any obligation.

Ok, after doing some research, basically I found an article that I thought was funny and thought I'd share an excerpt. This guy seems to agree with me that this is another of many holidays that is totally missing the point of its creation.
"Sure, it’s fun for some
people to dress all in
green, right down to their
skivvies and up to their face
paint. Shouts of “Erin Go
Bragh!”—sometimes twisted to “Erin,
Go Braless!” as the day drags on and the
blood-alcohol content climbs—seem relatively
good-natured, even if your name is Erin. But all of that undermines
the holiday’s potential: The day could have developed
into a rallying cry of solidarity among people of Irish descent
just as Puerto Rican Day is for that cohort. The celebration
could have offered a way of saying,“Thank goodness we made
it, after that potato famine nearly killed every last one of us.”
Rather, St. Patrick’s Day simply casts a spotlight on corned
beef, soda bread, and the little dude on the Lucky Charms
cereal box. [The irony? His name is actually Lucky. –Ed.]
(Don’t even get me started on Columbus Day. That holiday’s
more screwed up than my eating habits are. How a
conquistador of uncertain origin with a bad sense of direction
and a boatload full of syphilitic mercenaries became a
symbol of Italian pride is beyond me.)
This is the power of brand, of tradition, of the
crowd. It doesn’t matter that, in Ireland,
St. Patrick’s Day is still largely a religious
holiday commemorating a glorified
snake charmer. It doesn’t matter
that mentioning leprechauns or
shamrocks will get you a punch
in the face any other day of the
year. [This isn’t hyperbole.Marshall
knows this firsthand. –Ed.]
Americans—Irish and otherwise—
have appropriated the
holiday and made it their
own, regardless of the day’s
original intent."
This is from an editorial in Customer Relationship Magazine by
Marshall Lager lager@destinationCRM.com
CRM Magazine; Mar2008, Vol. 12 Issue 3, p50-50, 1p, 1 color

He's totally right that this holiday has been stolen, twisted, and ransacked for whatever it's originally about. Just like Valentine's Day, Columbus Day, Halloween, Easter, and Christmas have all been twisted, St. Patty's Day is just the same. I think many people at least still really get what Easter and Christmas are about, and I'm really glad that the church helps me to remember the upside of those days, but the rest of those holidays absolutely annoy me. I see no purpose in them whatsoever. St. Patrick's Day seems like a lame excuse to wear green and get drunk. (Which makes it an even MORE pointless day when you're Mormon!) Really, if anyone can see any great value in this day, I'll go change into some green and wish everyone I see a happy St. Patrick's. Otherwise... STOP BUGGING ME THAT I'M NOT WEARING GREEN!

Ok, I'm sure that this long of an entry wasn't really necessary, but I have successfully passed a lot of my work-shift by. Which was a primary goal of all of this.