The Irish Answer?

Can this man save Ireland? Maybe. His name is Enda Kenny. That's he above, the man who looks like he is swallowing a plateful of swollen fish and chips. He represents the Fine Gael Party in Ireland. On Friday, he is poised to become the next "taoiseach" or Prime Minister of Ireland. Some would say, has he lost it? Who would want THAT job? The banks collapsed. The Euro debt crisis exposed Ireland's profligate ways. Ireland is now facing its worst economic crisis in its history. Unemployment is at 14%. And, Ireland's greatest asset and export, its people, are leaving at a rate of 1,000 per week. Why hasn't he emigrated like so many before when he had the chance? Good question.

Ireland, a land of sorrows and joys, is more the former than the latter recently. The supercharged "Celtic Tiger" is now a feral cat in the alley way. The deserved collapse and humiliation of Bertie Ahern and the Brian Cowen's Fianna Fail Party is all but assured in Friday's election which is surely to signal the largest turnover in government seats and personnel since Ireland's independence in 1922. And where is Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein party, the bad penny of Irish politics, in all of this? He continues to furtively foment discord in the land which should no longer care about IRA issues. Ireland's problems are much more acutely basic, like, how does one feed his family? Forgetting prosperity for now, will Enda and his new government return to the basic goal of creating jobs for the Irish people? Wonder what the odds are on Grafton Street for Enda's new government succeeding?

Years ago, I read a interestingly lyrical yet rather self-indulgent book entitled, "How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role From the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe", (whew, long title I know, but that's the Irish for you, nothing's easy) by Irishman, Thomas Cahill. Cahill's thesis claims: in the fifth century during the fall of the Roman Empire, the Irish Catholic monks had the wisdom and time to copy by hand all the priceless Latin manuscripts that were being mindlessly destroyed by the invading Germanic Huns and Goths. Cahill's book highlights two heroes for helping preserve the past for the benefit of the future, namely, Patrick and Augustine, both saints. In present day Ireland, the task of saving is much more singular and personal. Who will save Ireland from itself? And if Enda is successful, will he become Ireland's new saint?

So as Ireland braces for a "new normal" let us hope for the best. Ireland is not too big to fail. The past Irish government saw to that. It failed its people miserably. But the Irish people will not fail. For they are a special indomitable breed.

In the end, whatever we are or claim to be and wherever we go, we all have a wee bit of Ireland within us. Don't believe me, check out the popularity of March 17 next month.

God bless the Irish.

Eirinn go brach.