Irish Grandmothers

I’ve written a bit about the tolerance of the Irish[1] and how the Irish were subject to discrimination in the early years of the diaspora.[2]  However, the Irish are not all loving of their fellow man….

I came across a little movie, set in Ireland, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, called “The Guard”.  Gleeson plays an unorthodox Irish policeman and Cheadle an FBI agent assigned to Ireland to intercept a drug shipment.

During a briefing by the Cheadle character, the Gleeson character asks if he grew up in the projects.  Cheadle becomes indignant, calling out Gleeson for his racial comment.

Gleeson replies, “I'm Irish. Racism is part of my culture.”[3]

At one of my silent retreats, the Irish American Jesuit priest giving the conferences told a story of his grandmother, who liked to say “Ah, doesn’t God love His own.”  And, in Grandma’s mind, His own could only refer to the Irish.

Another, more personal anecdote:  My great, great grandfather came over from Ireland during the great potato famine and ultimately ended up on a farm near Henderson, Minnesota.  My great grandfather was the oldest of six children.  The youngest, Thomas, married late in life to his Swedish housekeeper and had a daughter.  I had a chance to talk to his daughter, my grandfather’s first cousin, before her passing. 

She told me that my great grandmother was mean to her, calling her “the Half-Breed” because she was not full-blooded Irish.

These examples just confirm that if we as a people associate only with “our own kind”, we will naturally come to believe that “our own kind” is a superior class of people – whether it be based on race, religion, national origin, sexual preference, etc.

If we expand our associations, by travel or vicariously by reading, we can come to be more accepting and appreciative of the similarities, as well as the differences, each of us can bring to the table.

We are all racists or prejudiced in our own ways.  The first step is to look in the mirror, acknowledge our feelings and honestly investigate whether they are based in fact or fancy.

None of us is perfect.  But we all are called to strive for perfection. 

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[1] See the April 22 Blog entry

[2] See the March 16 Blog entry

[3] For an overview of The Guard, see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1540133/ .  I enjoyed the movie a lot, but there is a lot of swearing, drug use and violence, so be warned!