Orange vs. Green

I am way, way behind on my blogging!  Although many topics have presented themselves, I have not taken the time to write about them.  So this one will go way back to St. Patrick's Day.

When I was young, my father always wore an orange tie, in honor of his Northern Ireland roots.  I never thought much about it and traditionally wore orange as well (along with green, as I did not want to get pinched.)

Once I moved to Kansas, I never heard of anyone wearing orange and gradually, I quit doing it.  I didn't have my children wear orange, I never talked of it, and the tradition slowly died away.

This year, St. Patrick's Day was on a Tuesday, the day I traditionally have lunch with a group of friends.  When Bonnie showed up in a bright orange shirt, I asked her if it was intentional.  "Yep," she said.  "My family is from Northern Ireland."  Finally, I had met someone who wears orange on St. Patrick's Day.

So then I became curious about why the tradition died out.  Turns out, logically, during the years of tumult in Ireland, the colors became a divisive force.  Rather than just be the colors of two different areas of Ireland, they were a great source of conflict.  Makes sense.  Those years were while my children were growing up, and I think because of that, not much was ever said about wearing orange or green.  It appears to still be a rather sensitive subject, and so, if I go back to wearing orange on St. Patrick's Day, I will make sure to have plenty of green on, too.

Interestingly, I was at a meeting a few days ago that talked about how the conflict in Ireland came to an end.  I had always thought it was Bill Clinton, but in reality, it was mothers who came together to stop the fighting.  The women had seen their young sons hurt and maimed by the senselessness, and finally they banded together.  I am sure Bill Clinton was quite helpful, but the power of women and their desire for peace was important in the process.