There's this joke I tell...

Got out of the cottage last Friday and drove west to the town of Mulranny.  Mulranny is on the north side of Clew Bay.  We had gotten a bit stir-crazy hanging around and needed to catch some fresh air and stretch our legs a bit.  I parked our car at the Mulranny Park Hotel and we accessed the Great Western Greenway for a stroll of a vigorous few miles.  The weather looked quite iffy, but the rain held for the duration of our walk. We had previously traversed this path with Padraic and Marion a few years ago on our marathon biketrek to Achill Island (marathon to us; routine to P and M).  As very nice on foot as on bikes.  Great countryside, incredibly fresh air, and beautiful vistas.  When we finished doing our circuit, we stopped back at the hotel for a nice cappuccino and admired all the handsome young Irish people on hand for a wedding.

Along our walk

Ghost Candee

Oh.  The joke...  Well, it's simple and short.  And well-enjoyed by most non-Americans we meet when we're here.  Here it is - "God created war so that Americans could learn geography."  That's it, but it does have a ring of truth to it, doesn't it?  I'm certainly guilty as well.  I doubt I could have placed Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Croatia, Syria, Qatar, Kuwait and countless other countries on a map until we became engaged in our many military adventures.

It's kinda like native New Yorkers' regard for the rest of America as illustrated by this famous cover from The New Yorker magazine.  That's the way most Americans feel about the rest of the planet.

C'mon, own up.

Similarly, I find that, regardless of Americans' great affection for Irish people and positive regard for Ireland in general, they know very little about the country, its struggles and triumphs.  I found myself thinking about this as I stood in Burrishoole Friary just west of Newport, just north of Westport, as I was standing at the grave of Father Manus McSweeney.  Father McSweeney, a patriotic priest, was hanged publicly by the British forces on the Market Crane in Newport for the part he played in the rising of 1798.

Most of us only know of Ireland's subjugation by Britain through those news accounts of The Troubles, most prominently in the '70s, '80s, and '90s - a period of ethno-nationalist/political/religious conflict between Irish Catholics and Protestants in the northeast section of the island - a part of the island still under British jurisdiction.  But few of us know how it got to this point, or of all the attempts by the Irish people to free themselves, or the fact that there was a bitter and bloody civil war in Ireland after the Brits agreed to let the majority of the island be under Irish rule.  Fathers fought sons, brothers fought brothers, and one of the most revered heroes in Irish history, Michael Collins, lost his young life in the struggle.  Nor do we have full awareness of the causes and dimensions of An Gort Mor - "the Great Hunger" - the Irish Potato Famine of the years 1845 - 49.

I thought I would opine in this blog on the subject of Irish History, but found Padraic appalled at the notion.  I'm certain he thought my knowledge would be thin, and I suspect that he thinks that my leftie leanings would too heavily inform my interpretation of the march to Irish independence.  He's probably right.  So, instead, I'm providing a few links for you to click on to learn the rich and complex history of the "Land of Poets and Scholars."  It might be worth your time to read and watch these brief selections: "A Brief History of Ireland" and A Short History of Ireland.

Burrishoole Friary, founded in 1469.

Beautiful setting on a small Clew Bay inlet just past Newport