I am not Irish. Neither were any of my relatives or either of my parents. But the reason I celebrate this day, is twofold. It gives me an opportunity to learn about a different culture and nationality, and a chance to pay tribute and honor to my dad. See, although he was an African American, he always celebrated St. Patrick's Day-it was his birthday. And I celebrated it with him. And now that he is deceased, I still do, even more. I feel related to this day, and I will always celebrate it just the same. So, St. Patrick's Day can't be only for the Irish.

Please don't misunderstand, I mean no disrespect to all the Irish or Catholics or the other unrelated people, (pagans and drunks alike) out there celebrating the day, most of them dressed in green. I know all the historical reasons for it too, those substantiated and those not (folklore & myths). To each his own (reason) I say; in my opinion, they are all significant enough.

To those looking contemptuously at me all dressed up in my green garb, acting as if they have some kind of monopoly on this day, I say, look around, we are all here in this day together. I wouldn't mind it at all if an Irish man or two decided to join in the festivities on a day that my heritage was being celebrated: the more, the merrier.

I think anyone born on a holiday is extra special and worth celebrating. And my dad is worth celebrating on any day, but especially so on his birthday. My dad owned a small tavern, or a cafe' as it was called down south. March 17th was always a big celebration at his cafe. People told me how great he was at making sure all his patrons had a great time that day. He always made sure no one ever left his cafe' driving if they were too intoxicated. He would designate one of his employees to take anyone home that needed it. He started doing that way before it was a popular thing to do like it is today in most bars. Just a common sensical thing to do, he would often say. My dad was just like that. He never mentioned to anyone that it was his birthday either. In fact, it wasn't until after reading the obit from his funeral did most people around town learn that March 17th was actually his birthday. Instead of balloons he decorated with shamrocks, and cutouts of Ireland dawned the bar, and green was the color theme. Even his cake was, and it never read Happy Birthday, but Happy St. Patrick's Day was written on it. I think it gave him an open venue to talk about all that he knew occurred on March

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