March 17, 2025- I wore a teal-coloured shirt today. It was the closest I had to green, which many in the U.S. wear on St. Patrick’s Day, which is today. There is a plethora of chlorophyll about-green punch, green beer, even green eggs. No one wants green beef or chicken, of course, so red and white still colour our meats.

We honour a variety of cultural markers in the United States, a testimony to our status as a nation built by immigrants-some here since ancient times and others descended from those who have arrived since the establishment of a settlement in Pensacola, in what is now Florida, in 1559. We have evolved as a nation that has welcomed people from every other nation on Earth-as have several others in their turn: Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, Peru and so on.

In today’s world, one can go to virtually any nation and find people from just about any other country. There is no real homogeneity, in terms of “ethnic purity”. We are in a place of sharing, yet there is a curious notion, among some, that cultural markers belong only to those who claim ownership of that culture. There is a view that “cultural appropriation” takes place, whenever those outside a cultural group show too much interest or enjoyment of its markers.

No one wants to lose their identity, and this is hardly the point of cultural sharing. It is wise to note when anyone, either in or out of the cultural group, tries to turn its practices into a mere money-making venture or combine it with some sort of unicultural mish-mash. It is best to resist such ersatz practices. Culture is best seen as an expression of the heart, and further as a voice to the identity of a people.

I do have Irish ancestry, on both sides of my family. My father’s paternal grandmother was pure Irish. My mother’s paternal forebears migrated from Ireland to Germany, during the Hanseatic Era, then came to the United States in the early Nineteenth Century. I also have French, English, German and Penobscot Nation ancestry. Some cultural practices could flow authentically from me; others, not so easily.

I have spent much time among Dineh and Hopi people, as well as Koreans and Filipinos. I have enjoyed a great deal of these four cultures, especially food and the arts. I have subsumed little of the outward cultural markers of these peoples; that is not my place. I do, however, honour the deeper energy behind their cultures and have put the most honourable features of their heritage to use in my own service to mankind. For example, the tendency of Dineh or Hopi to listen, deeply, to someone, without jumping into an argument or engaging in one-upmanship, has stood me well, on a great many occasions. The fastidiousness of Koreans and the gentle patience of Filipinos have also imparted lessons to me, in my daily life.

Man has always been on the move, and encountering those with different ways of conducting daily life is the lot of us all. Cultural markers need not be a barrier between groups.

Erin go bragh!