It's St. Patrick's Day, usually associated with green beer and massive inebriation. Like all holidays, however, the day is mutable enough to be what we make it. A part of my ancestry is Irish, and I respect the combination of dogged defiance and hospitality. So tonight I'll celebrate with friends our fortune in making it through hard times, and hope for better to come.
Ireland has produced an incredible amount of blistering laments, product of a long, bloody history. The song above, however, is different. "On the One Road" depicts a spirit facing uncertain odds ("we're on the road to god knows where") but roaringly optimistic ("night is darkest just before the dawn"), since something greater is coming, and everyone plays a role.
The song is about Ireland, but like all the best, universal at its heart. Wherever you are tonight, raise a glass, because the road doesn't end here.
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