Luck of the Irish

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and that is a holiday that my family celebrates proudly. Growing up, I was always told about my Irish heritage and how we came from Irish immigrants that came to America in the first migration. In the past year, I took one of those DNA tests that you mail in and found that I'm about as much African as I am Irish. (2% each) But St. Patrick's Day is one of those days that everyone gets to be Irish. With that, we think of the phrase, "Luck of the Irish." Historically speaking, that phrase has nothing to do with luck at all. It came from the days when gold and silver mining in America was done predominately by Irish immigrant labor. In those time, mining was more of a guess as to where these precious metals were located. When these Irish miners would find them, the owners used the term Luck of the Irish condescendingly to mean that it was their luck, not their brains, that led them there. While the phrase was meant to belittle the group, I think it speaks more about how hard work leads to luck.

People often think about luck as just good fortune that follows certain people. I've come to think that lucky people are often persistent and determined. When the big play happens for an athlete, we forget the countless hours of practice. When someone wins the lottery, we forget the hundreds of times they lost. So in honor of tomorrow's holiday, may the luck of the Irish be with you in finishing out this school year. It may not be brains that makes it through, but determination and hard work can get us there.