March 17, 2005

The Wearing of The Red

Peaceful Greens. The Greens at Sea Mountain ... The Villas at Sea Mountain Colony , Pahala Kau


This area of the Big Island reminds one of Old Ireland with its rolling hills and pastures...racing to the wide blue seas... But it also reminds you of the other side, The centuries of bloody tribal warfare that scarred this land... Then the Invaders came... and we united too late to defeat them and had an alien religion thrust upon us... Im not talking about the White Man... Im talking about other Polynesians that came, conquered then treated the locals like slaves...

But... that isnt what I wanted to write about. I am re running the post I ran last year that was widely commented on then and now that I have a passle of new readers I would say this same thing again, with an added paragraph for an update. ... Its so important, on this day when the worst of people tends to come out...Poor St Patrick a rolling over in his grave...


The Wearing of the Red


Today is St. Patricks Day. I admire Patrick. The legend is that Patrick was a young Roman aristocrat that was captured by the wild Irish tribes and hauled away as a slave. He escaped a few years later, and returned to his family. Some time later he converted to Christianity. Burdened for his fellow captives and his captors he returned to Ireland and preached, and was well received. So well that the island was converted to Christianity in a generation. His work may have well saved Western Civilization as the monasteries that were established there were central in the preservation of learning and history in the early part of the Middle Ages.

But I am not wearing Green today. Not because Im not Irish, I likely am. One has only to look at my fair green eyed Mother, or my family tree of Southerners, cotton growing, share cropping, hard scrabble farmers all. Likely Scots Irish Ulstermen that came to this country in the early 1800s for a better life...

And not because Im not Catholic. Im not wearing Protestant Orange, nor do I follow in that mindset. I feel that England abused the Irish, just as we have abused the Hawaiians and stolen their lands, but there is no turning back the clock. Its done now. Fighting, bombing and other violence wont change the hearts hardened by hatred.

I am not wearing green today because it has become the color of fanatic religious fundementalism. It is the color of the flags of the militant islamists that would destroy the very Nation that I love and the freedoms that give purpose and meaning.. human dignity and worth... that are the God given birthright of every man woman and child on this earth.

Im wearing Red today. Red for the blood of martyrs. Those that died for what they believed in. Those that were murdered for what they believed in. Solders that die in service for their country right or wrong the cause... Duty and sacrifice are always noble.

Red... The color of the blood of Heros...

Im wearing Red today for the innocents... Children killed by adults, children killed in war as bystanders and as solders themselves... Bystanders caught up in events that were not of their making... On trains, on planes, in office buildings, sleeping in barracks, Olympic compounds and cruise ships. People in their homes and in the market. Young people in night clubs and riding on buses... Misguided children with bombs strapped to their bodies, thinking this is a sure way to god, to fame, out of poverty and shame....

Im Wearing Red today... For the Underground Church, for the Women living under Islam, for every child that goes to bed sick and hungry in a world that is so full of food and stuff that should we ever put or differences aside we could all be fed and healthy.

Im Wearing Red today, because it is the color of the Blood of The One, the only one that has the power to set to rights the evils of human affairs and make this world the place it was meant to be....