So once again in Crosslake they celebrated St. Patrick's Day. I wasn't able to be there but I know from past experience, the excitement that goes on up there with the parade and the festivities. I have often felt that it's as much about getting out of the house, after a long winter and meeting your friends and neighbors once more, as it is about the great Irish saint but be that as it may be. You see I live in Crosslake and there are not a lot of Irish there.
You see we are and will always be a nation of immigrants. That was the premise the country was built on. For many people who immigrated here and their offspring they have not forgotten their roots. That's why in big cities they seem to live in their own little neighborhoods. It's a place where traditions and customs live on and much stills goes on to remember the old country. Despite those good intentions however we are fast becoming a nation of mutts.
There are those in our society however that do whatever they can do to hasten this process of homogenizing our society. You see, they see, anyone who still clings to those roots as un-American. They get mad when they hear a foreign language used or when a mosque or temple gets built. They can barely control their contempt when the so-called foreigners invade their neighborhood.
Living down in the southwest this winter I was amazed at the diversity. I was also amazed at how little it mattered to anyone. Maybe I thought it was odd because I came from an area where it doesn't exist. Maybe I thought it was good because I now see how easy it is to live that way.
Mike Holst
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Crosslake
