Call me a cynic, anti-holiday, or the St. Patty’s Scrooge, but people today treat St. Patrick’s Day as another excuse to engage in sin, especially drunkenness. Along with other contrived excuses for such self-indulgence and gluttony (e.g., New Years, Mardi Gras), St. Patrick’s Day becomes an excuse to consume too much alcohol in the name of “celebration.” Of course, I’m sure most people, when asked, have no idea what they are celebrating beyond “St. Patrick’s Day.” It’s just another excuse for depraved behavior.
Many have no idea why St. Patrick’s Day is on March 17th, nor do they know the history of St. Patrick (and why he would be likely be appalled, offended, and sickened at the modern interpretation; i.e., the day to get drunk on green colored alcohol). When asked, they would not know that March 17th is believed to be the day St. Patrick died. They would not know that he was a Christian missionary who, as a teenager, was kidnapped by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. It may surprise them that after obtaining his freedom, he returned to his home in Scotland, where he accepted Christ as Savior, entered the ministry, and, in his 40’s, returned to Ireland as a missionary evangelist. Finally, many are unaware that Patrick (who was never officially given sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church) taught about the Trinity using the three-leave clover, not the four-leaf variety.
Today, however, people treat history as irrelevant, only the present matters. “Live for today” and “now is your time” are the mottos of the world, and in accordance with those views, all that matters is getting drunk, green rivers, and celebrating the holiday that promulgates the insulting stereotype that Irish folk are drunkards (but that’s a topic for another day).
