In The Balance

"Battle of the Somme, 1916 Rising." Paddy weighed his options. Easter Monday was fast approaching and he had to choose one commemoration or the other.

Hundreds of young Irishmen, out of work and with no hope, had signed on during the Great War. Not out of patriotism, to be sure, but those lads had no other way to support their wives and children, their aged grandparents, or their siblings. It was the same as all the other boys who went Over There; they were slaughtered like so much cannon fodder. Should a modern Irishman join in the marching and parading to commemorate the Battle of the Somme, to honor his fellow countrymen who fell to no good purpose?

On the other side of the scale, Paddy looked at the Rising. He wanted to believe that Ireland would never have been a nation without a bloody revolt, but the media sages were claiming that the nation would have eventually been separated from English rule. And the uprising was not popular at the time, so what right did Pearse and Connelley have to kill people in the name of some fuzzy ideal? Taking that tack, a man would appear to be bloodthirsty or nearly un-Christian to join in the military parade in Dublin.

"We're not coming," Johnny Bull said, pouting. "Oh, we'll come by to offer a moment of silence for the heroes of the Great War, but that 1916 business was a terrorist act and we'll not toast your murderous ancestors."

Being shunned by the neighbors was enough to send Paddy's scale to tipping. He wanted those all around him to think that he was a level-headed pacifist. The Battle of the Somme was gaining favor.

"What's the big deal?" Cousin Jonathan piped up. "Hell, we have fireworks and parades and more speeches than you can shake a stick at on the Fourth of July."

Becoming an independent nation was something to celebrate, Paddy had to agree. The only difference that he could see between Ireland's planned festivities and the Fourth of July notion was minor, but significant. In America, the citizens celebrated the paper that declared them free. In Ireland, it was all about the fighting, the gallant signers of the Proclamation and their futile battle against the mighty British Empire. The Yanks never talked much about their own futile battles, but they prattled on and on about the Declaration of Independence.

"Well?" Johnny Bull said. "What are your plans for April? I have to make reservations in advance if I'm to get a decent room."

"Let's remember our dead, even if they died for a cause that we don't believe in these days," Paddy said. "And we'll have a grand parade on Easter Monday. 'Tis all about the piece of paper, more than the guns and bullets. Independence without a war? Jesus, you've only to look at the North to see what we'd be without the fighting of 1916."

One last time, Paddy tested the weight of his two choices. Battle of the Somme, Easter Rising, Battle of the Somme, Easter Rising...the scale leveled off as the celebrations balanced.