When Saint Patrick's Day first began, it was a day to honor God, the Irish, and American tradition...in that order. Now Saint Patrick's Day is a day that involves pouring green dye in a river, wearing offensive Irish t-shirts, and getting so drunk that you turn into an embarrassing parody of yourself.

America is not a country that deals well with change. Now that Saint Patrick's Day has become nothing more than another party holiday it has lost all of its cultural and spiritual significance. I can't change young people's mind about using the day as an excuse to get plastered, but I can definitely help people understand how hurtful those offensive Irish t-shirts really are.

Is it really okay for 80% of a crowd to be wearing shirts that make fun of an entire people by saying that they are racially prone to being drunks and vagabonds? I come from a deep Irish heritage, and I think that these offensive Irish t-shirts are absolutely terrible. The Irish people helped build this country by the sweat of their labor. We deserve better than that.

Since the American public has thrown aside the religious past of St. Patrick's Day, can we at least recognize that the Irish aren't just a group of roving gypsies who are hopelessly addicted to alcohol and violence? If you were to believe any of the "comic" designs on any one of these offensive Irish t-shirts, the Irish would have never crawled out of the caves and become modern men.

I know I'm a bit hard-headed about the whole issue of my native Irish pride and these offensive Irish t-shirts, but you have to understand where I'm coming from. The Irish people have been oppressed by other countries for almost our entire existence. Many of our Irish forebears fled across the ocean for a chance at a new beginning, only to be met with racism and hate. Despite all of this, the Irish did more than their share building this country. Honor the Irish for what they really are, for once.

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