Go mbeire muid beo ar an am seo arís

Most of you are aware of my homeland's fiscal difficulties, but for those of you who don't follow world news (and let's face it--most of us don't), I'll summarize. Ireland is in trouble. I'm not referring to the latest bombing in Northern Ireland or the football losses that enraged the nation; no, I am talking about well and truly bankrupt.

Ireland has faced many depressions and economic disasters in the past, but I have to admit that I naively thought that the late 90s prosperity, only heightened by joining the EU in 2001, would ensure that Ireland would be safe. The economy was soaring. Foreign companies were setting up shop, investing in the country and its success. Ireland was recovering in a way it had never been able to enjoy. People weren't worried about starvation or civil war or invading forces or plague or any number of things that had been ever constant in the past. Forgive me for being so Irish, but of course it was too good to last. Ireland is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

It's not entirely their fault. True, they haven't have to support a booming economy before, but they managed well until they started losing so much foreign investing. On top of this were issues they had never had to deal with before, such as immigration, EU regulations, booming tourism, etc. They were handling it well . . . until they weren't. It's taken 3 years of steady downward spiraling for them to be a position where people are lining up to bail them out. Britian has offered the bailout, which Ireland will not take. I actually don't blame them for that. There is 700 years of festering mistrust and racism between Ireland and the UK. That aside, there is the delicate state of Northern Ireland, and by accepting British aid, Ireland would be forfeiting power over those issues. This fight has been too long, too bloody, and too painful to give it up now. The EU handout, though, is more of a possibility. True, Ireland would lose a lot of respect, possibly earning Germany's everlasting resentment (seriously, Germany has been relegated to the sugar daddy of the EU), but this is why they joined. They contributed, and now they need help. The EU is offering, but Ireland has to ask.

Ah, therein lies the rub. They have to ask for help. Many of you may have noticed through your interactions with me and other Irish that we do not like asking for help. Our pride and stubbornness is often relentless, and I'm becoming more convinced that it is a chronic condition, possibly with no cure, but even I can see that in this case, the country NEEDS to swallow its pride and ask for help. They are part of the EU. They have a responsibility to the other countries, and Spain and Portugal will also implode if the EU loses any more footing. Greece was bad enough, and I'm not even going to touch Romania and Malta (I'll leave that to Mary).

It's time to remember our roots. Our ancestors were warriors. Our forefathers struggled and survived under hellish oppression and abuse. We fought wars for independence. We lost the best of our men, women, and children to starvation, execution, slavery, famine, emigration, and alcohol, but we survived nonetheless to flourish into a member of a successful global community and a respectable country in our own right. Yes, we need help. Yes, we will have to again earn our friends' trust. Yes, we will still need to work and sacrifice. But I have no doubt we can do it, and neither did our ancestors.

Soldier's Song (Ireland's National Anthem)

We'll sing a song, a soldier's song,
With cheering rousing chorus,
As round our blazing fires we throng,
The starry heavens o'er us;
Impatient for the coming fight,
And as we wait the morning's light,
Here in the silence of the night,
We'll chant a soldier's song.

Chorus:
Soldiers are we , whose lives are pledged to Ireland;
Some have come from a land beyond the wave.
Sworn to be free, No more our ancient sire land
Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
Tonight we man the gap of danger
In Erin's cause, come woe or weal
'Mid cannons' roar and rifles peal,
We'll chant a soldier's song.

In valley green, on towering crag,
Our fathers fought before us,
And conquered 'neath the same old flag
That's proudly floating o'er us.
We're children of a fighting race,
That never yet has known disgrace,
And as we march, the foe to face,
We'll chant a soldier's song.

Chorus

Sons of the Gael! Men of the Pale!
The long watched day is breaking;
The serried ranks of Inisfail
Shall set the Tyrant quaking.
Our camp fires now are burning low;
See in the east a silv'ry glow,
Out yonder waits the Saxon foe,
So chant a soldier's song.

No School For Me

I have a legion of teachers and students trying to convince me to teach, so I thought I'd share the reasons why I can't be a teacher.

1. Grading: It sucks. It sucks so bad. Most kids write the same essays or answers and after a while you begin to forget what words mean and why you're there and what the sun looks like . . .

2. Excuses: I swear, if I have to listen to one more excuse about how it took a kid an hour to talk to their teacher during lunch (which is of course why they showed up with a drink from Del Taco), I might just scream. Plus, they all have an excuse as to why their homework is not done or why they didn't do the journal entry that they were working on for 20 minutes. And what good to they think showing up 10 minutes before the end of school on the last day of the term will do? When you tell them too bad, they whine to the administration, who then tell you to pass the little beasts because our football team just can't loose the only player that can run in a straight line!

3. Crushes: It's creepy weird when high schoolers ask you to Homecoming or bring you an apple or sit and try to impress you with their sports prowess during lunch. #1: It's a felony, #2: they really aren't as cool as they think they are, and #3: ew.

4. Patience: I have none, and supposedly you're not allowed to yell at students. Or punch them in the face.

5. Bureaucratic BS: Administrators micromanage with no respect for the challenges of the classroom. I hate hoop-jumping.

6. Repetition: I hate repeating myself, but if I don't repeat something 6 or 7 times, no one remembers it let alone does it, but it's my fault because I didn't repeat it 8 times.

7. Angry Parents: Remember those kids who lie about stuff? They tell their parents all kinds of crap about why their failing (the truth being they don't turn stuff in) and then have their parents email the teacher about how the teacher is being unfair and has too high expectations. How to correct them without accusing their kid of being a weasel . . .

8. Co-workers: Other teachers are petty and mean and try to steal your batteries and printer paper.

9. Food: You can't buy freakin' caffeine in the vending machines and food is scarce and mediocre at best.

10. I don't wanna.