Today is March 17, 2010, and as I have traditionally done for many of my 34 years, I woke up this morning and forgot to put on green. Many a coworker noticed this missing hue with great shock, to which I answered, "I'm an adult - I'm THIRTY-FOUR. WHO's going to pinch me? I DARE them."
I wasn't always so bold. Always not green but not always so bold. As a little Chinese girl living in Kentucky and who learned English from Mr. Rogers, I didn't have a mother who took it upon herself to teach me the Irish customs of the United States America. And so there was a lot of shame, awkward moments, and a hell of a lot of pinching -- a very rough deal in kindergarten. I mean, who pinches a cute little Chinese girl with pigtails new to the country? You wouldn't let adults do this but somehow, because of a some little green leperchaun, hordes of little kids are allowed to inflict this pain on each other with impunitiy. And this is how I came to regard St. Patrick's Day as the holiday it really is - a day of VIOLENCE.
Fortunately the silly little green holiday is over. And I was right; this year nobody pinched the Chinese girl. Let's hope it stays that way.
