Today is the day when many people suddenly become proud of their Irish heritage whether they're Irish or not. Others use St. Patrick's Day as a reason to go drinking or to pull something hideously off-green out of the closet.
Over the years I've become a bit ambivalent identifying myself as Irish-American. Sure, I wore a green shirt to work today and said "probably" when people asked me if I was going to drink beer today (although I had no intention of doing so). My policy has been just to acknowledge it if asked. There are some people that make a big deal about it but who really cares if you consider yourself Italian, Irish, Polish, etc.
There are two things that caused me to think about this: one to do with Theodore Roosevelt and the other Christoper Walken. Interesting pair, eh? Roosevelt said:
"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism. When I refer to hyphenated Americans, I do not refer to naturalized Americans. Some of the very best Americans I have ever known were naturalized Americans, Americans born abroad. But a hyphenated American is not an American at all."
"This is just as true of the man who puts “native” before the hyphen as of the man who puts German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance."
"But if he is heartily and singly loyal to this Republic, then no matter where he was born, he is just as good an American as any one else."
Finally there was a scene in The Deer Hunter where Christopher Walken was being questioned by a doctor after being rescued as a POW in Vietnam. He was asked if his name was Russian and he said in an proud, certain tone that it was American.
Harrumph!
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