The following has names that may not be correct , not to mention the spelling and was written in response to a question..... What does being Irish mean to me?

IRELAND AND ME!

The Irish! Who where they and were did they come from and what does it mean to me?

Well, history has it that we originally came from Brittany in France

And from there sailed around England and landed on an island west of (England) Brittiana known later as the edge of the world or the end of the world.

The Irish are known as an island of Saints, Scholars, Drinkers and darn good Brawlers (especially among themselves) and coming from a small isle have made a big noise around the world. There is hardly a corner of this globe that we have not been heard of and the famous slightly misguided and egoexcentric, Sigmund friod has been extremely frustrated by us, as he could not figure out how in the world we could laugh at ourselves and also at disaster, well my response to you Mr. froid is once you have it figured out, where's the joy in learning more, of waking up to a new and exciting page in your life with child like expectation of the hours and minutes ahead, Walla!!!!!!!

The Irish story and way of life can not be condensed into a black and yellow manual and sold at boarders as "IRISH FOR DUMMIES" but begins each day anew as each Irish person awakes rubs the sleep from their eyes and welcomes or rejects the new days challenges!

So what does being Irish mean to moi! (To coin a phrase from my French ancestors)

Well I had no choice in the original Immaculate Conception, ok I'm not serious, and I'm not the Irish savior. However, dad and mom honeymooned in Scotland and remained there about 10 years during which time I was born , blonde haired , blue eyes, genes that were probably left over from a Viking raid of rape and pillage and I'm not joking, the Irish are normally red or black haired and dark eyes and occasional blue- and when Christianity came to Ireland along with all its blessings from the almighty , also came our Nordic neighbors with phrases like " I have steel you have bronze I will take that gold goblet please" and as Murphy the Monk sat on the beach with his broken bronze sword, Hagar the victorious headed back to his Family abode "The Thatcher's" hut in Norway thinking "Dumb Mick's" (Mick slang for Irish) and Murphy the disgruntled Monk sat contemplating a new law?

So from birth my view of the world and who I'm have been greatly fashioned from the Irish perspective. To begin with I have some very famous Irish linage; I have been told that Saint Patrick of Ireland was the first Quinlan and that also Richard Mac Murdoch (I think I got the name wrong LOL) Earl of Waterford in the south East of Ireland was also my ancestor. Richard went to England after the fall of the high king Brian Burrew by the hand of a raiding Viking (they're like ants keep coming back, maybe if we tried the bates Motel instead of the Ants Hotel due to the fact that Vikings fear trolls and MOTHER? the old psycho looks just like one ,hmmmm?) Brian by the hand of God had driven the Viking invaders from the Irish shores, but that's another story, right now its all about me

, OK! Right back to moi! When Richard was abroad in England he met with the then Norman king of England and told him that Brian was dead and Ireland was up for grabs and if said king would help him he would share Ireland. King what's his name? (For the life of me I cannot remember his name only the fact that he was Norman) told Richard that he was busy fighting in France but gave him the royal approval to enlist any knights he could find to help him in his cause. Shortly after that he meets Richard de Clare a Norman knight who agrees to join him and together with a 1000 knights they sail back to Ireland and upon landing in Waterford de Clare marries Mac Murdoch's daughter and thus unites the 2 houses and then they proceed to take Ireland without much of a fight, as the country was greatly divided after Brian's death and the Irish true to their nature were fighting among them selves and so easily conquered.

And so began the English rule of the emerald isle that lasted from late 1100`s to 1929 when they pulled out and held on to 6 counties in northern Ireland and southern Ireland became a free state.

So out of my family linage came first, salvation through Patrick and bondage to England under Richard Mac and Richard de Clare. From way back our family has always been connected to some form of royalty and were even kings in Northern Ireland before we were ousted a familiar story among Irish royalty due to the fact that we love to fight and if the enemies not around we fight among ourselves and even when we bury the hatchet we make sure to mark the spot, you know leave the handle sticking out, just in case like? You never know?

You know just had an interesting thought, as I previously wrote the Irish originally came from Brittany in France and years later England under Norman rule (Normandy, you know D-Day France) more or less remarries Ireland to its lost roots and whatever troubles they left behind in Brittany (France) all those years ago came back to them one day in Waterford through a French knight Richard de Clare (who later became known as Strong bow, but that's another story) who weds Eve Mac Murdoch and thus rejoins the house of France and Ireland body, mind, soul and spirit once again and so all the good we do or bad always returns to us and if we do not deal with it accordingly it will dog us for the rest of our natural lives and all the pills in this great universe will never make it go away.

So, as I look back through history I can Cleary see Gods hand in my family linage both through the good and the bad, much like the old testament every time Gods people turned their backs on God he sent invading hordes to bring them back and when they were rightly reunited he blessed them beyond their wildest dreams and they drove the unwelcome (God released) hordes back to hells kitchen! They call it tough love, but it sure gets your attention!!!!!!!!

Well then what has growing up Irish meant to me?

Well if I was to view Ireland as a perspective bride? Would I want to join myself to her and consummate the marriage?

Looking at her past track record, let's see pagan worship, slave traders, fighters, divided against each other, united once- only under God and then enslaved under a foreign Kingdom, story tellers, song writers, actors, lovers, monks, missionaries , nuns and catholic priests ,saints and scholars, drinkers and brawlers , sounds like a good old dysfunctional family, can I judge her? No I think not, I too like the prodigal son have erred my ways and sowed unfruitful seed and reaped the harvest of weeds that come from such a past. So if I continue on my experience of past squandered inheritance I will end up in the pigpen wallowing in my own sorrows and licking the wounds of my winter of discontent and in general an unwelcome blot on the landscape.

But if like the prodigal son I remember where I came from and return to my true father he will meet me with open arms and heal my wounds and restore the true nature of my Irish manhood, his nature of what this Irish man should be or can be or more to the point was destined to be. Yes I think I truly want that and then will I be honestly able to declare what being Irish really means to Me.