Irish Blessing: "May the most you wish for be the least you get."

Good morning and welcome back to my version of the real world, here on this Monday, March 19, 2018. Most of you probably knew that last Saturday, the 17th, was St. Patrick's Day. The people I heard promoting it mostly talked about filling up on Green Beer. Since we are a melting pot, the Irish people have played an important role in our history. One of the great contributions, from my point of view, has to be Irish music. I've been a big fan of the Irish Tenors since they came on the scene many years ago. Even before that, I enjoyed what I could find of Irish folk music. There's also a very healthy market for Irish country music which has been patterned after, American country music. I did honor the holiday. Last Friday, when I was at my desk, I listened to many of my favorites as performed by the Irish Tenors. They have over 100 out on YouTube, therefore, there's enough variety to suit every taste. I tend to like the sad tunes and believe me, the Irish have plenty of sad ones. Many of those reflect the hardships and challenges they have faced throughout their history. The photo is of the CD cover of what is perhaps my favorite compilation, (19 songs). I may have worn out that CD many years ago but it too is captured and preserved on YouTube. Call it up and give it a listen. I think you will like it. This is an Irish blessing that I had not seen before. You might have to think about it some:

Here’s to your coffin!
May your coffin have six handles of finest silver!
May your coffin be carried by six fair young maids!
And may your coffin be made of finest wood from a 100-year-old tree,
that I’ll go plant tomorrow!

I'm still waiting for them to come up with a day set aside to honor my heritage. My cousin, a granddaughter of my dad's twin brother, submitted her DNA to Ancestry.com to have it analyzed. It came back, 100% European. The highest percentages were Great Britain, 40%, Ireland, 30%, Scandinavia, 14%, Italy/Greece, 9%, Europe West, 6%, and the rest were traces in the 1% range. This means we should be celebrating European Heritage Day, and, it is celebrated in some 50 countries but not in the United States. Too white. I'm not making a racial statement, but, in our current climate, it seems that white people are the bad guys in every category looking for someone to blame. That DNA assessment would be based on my dad's family. The dad's genes typically have the most clout, but, that's not to say that my mom's contribution is without impact. All of that is still part of the ongoing debate, but, science has discovered that while children get more of their mom's DNA, the way it works within each individual typically means that dads prevail in passing on their traits. I haven't seen the same results from my mom's family. We think it to be European there as well, perhaps with Scotland thrown into the mix. If not having your own day is bothersome to you, well, Hungary will celebrate their version of European Heritage Days on September 15-16. Maybe at that time, you could whip up some goulash and enjoy your heritage. Joking. Don't write me. Because I really don't know that much about any of this.

I suppose I could celebrate a little with the Irish, maybe 30% worth. To add further confusion to all of this, the United Nations recently released the listing of happiest countries in the world, in ranked order. These rankings are based on a number of factors. It's easy to see where those countries at war are ranked the lowest. This is followed by those dealing with significant poverty and economic hardships. The United States was ranked 18th this year. That's four places worse than we scored last year. The fellow I heard theorized it had something to do with the political unrest we are experiencing. Simple enough: It's Donald Trump's fault. Here's the interesting part. The happiest nations in the top rankings were dominated by Scandinavia. Finland was number one this year. (Of course, they have a population of only 5.5 million.) I believe the next ones are from that general vicinity as well. This means the happiest nations in the world are overwhelmingly white. So much so, you need sunglasses just to read the report because, you know, so much blonde hair. I'm sure a lawsuit will be filed to contest these findings because they by, definition, must be racist. And, very unfair. Oh well, as a friend of ours used to often say, 'It is what it is'. You can look all of this up and digest it for yourself. And, please try to stay happy while you are doing it. It will help our ranking. May God bless each one. Amen. ....More later.