Happy Saint Patrick's Day!!! An Immigrant Holiday!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! In past years, I have written about the religious nature of Saint Patrick's Day. Patrick was a remarkable missionary and a hero of the Christian faith. There are many blogs today celebrating that aspect of the day.

There is another aspect of Saint Patrick's Day that I will tackle today. Saint Patrick's Day is largely an immigrants holiday. I saw an interview with Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains saying how he preferred to spend Saint Patrick's Day in the US. In Ireland, it was largely a religious holiday. In the US, Saint Patrick's Day is a party. In the US, Saint Patrick's Day is more a celebration of Irish heritage than it is about the saint. It demonstrates the impact that a group of immigrants can have on a culture and a nation.

Irishmen were among the first colonists in the New World. They came to the New World in various employs of the British government and venture corporations. Later, Irishmen came to America to escape the oppressive and difficult life of Ireland. Ireland was ruled by a landed gentry that was British or appointed by the crown. The aristocracy of Ireland was thoroughly loyal to the crown and far removed from the majority of the Emerald Isle. The disparities became blatantly obvious when the primary food crop for the poor was destroyed.

Around 1845, the potato crop of Ireland was destroyed by blight. A large portion of the poor in Ireland relied upon the potato. To make matters worse, Ireland experienced a severe winter in 1846-47 that exacerbated the problem. The resulting famine added to the many points of conflict between the Upper and Lower classes. The lower class was mostly composed of Catholics that faced discrimination under British law. They were not fairly represented in Parliament. And while the poor starved in the streets, the wealthy ate sumptuously. There were other food crops in Ireland, but they were most exported to the foreign markets and overseas British colonies. The overall result was that over a million Irish died of malnutrition over a ten year period. Another million left Ireland to settle in the US, Australia, and other friendly nations. The disparities and injustices that occurred during the famine also contributed to the growing Republican movements that would lead to Irish freedom.

The response to the famine in the US was varied. When the Irish Famine began, the US was involved in a war with Mexico. Funds were raised across the US, and the first international relief effort by the United States was mounted. The sloop-of-war USS Jamestown was disarmed and filled with food.

American aid saved lives and started an American tradition of helping those in need. Americans were happy to send aid to Ireland, but as the Irish started arriving in American ports, things changed.

The Irish that came off the boats during the Great Famine were impoverished and malnourished. They dressed in worn and outdated clothing. Newspaper editorials portrayed the waves of Irish arriving on American shores as animalistic, backwards, uneducated, and immoral. They looked funny and worse yet, they were Catholic. Helping the Irish in Ireland was fine, but America didn't want any more Irish in America. Eventually, American ports started to close to ships coming from Ireland. The Irish were berated and belittled. Amazingly the caustic caricatures remain to this day (it's okay to use comic, demeaning Irish stereotypes in Saint Patrick's Day graphics on the local news, but they wouldn't dare wear black face or use minstrel show figures during February). This is an actual cartoon from Harper's Weekly, the Journal of Civilization.

The Irish were forced into the poorer districts of the cities, but they banded together. Before long the Irish were the business owners, politicians, and even in charge of organized crime! The Irish took the jobs that no one else would take. They loaded cotton bales on the Mississippi, a job considered too hazardous for slaves. They worked the bayous of Louisiana, mined coal in the Appalachians, and built the railroads. The Irish fought on both sides of the Civil War and rebuilt the nation in Reconstruction. The Irish that settled in the US were transformed by America and also transformed America. Saint Patrick's Day is a celebration of how much the Irish have contributed to the fabric of the United States. It is also a promise to immigrants today and for the future.

My great-great-grandfather came from Ireland during the Great Famine. He settled in Georgia just in time for the Civil War. Like many of the Irish he became a part of the fabric of America. The history of the United States is a history of the immigrant finding a home. Saint Patrick's Day in the United States is testimony of the impact immigrants can have on the nation.

Anticipating the Plague

The announcement that Ebola patients were being transported to the United States made me nervous. Ebola is one of the most dangerous viruses in the world. There is no cure for the disease and it has a fatality rate around 90 percent. Currently the best way to deal with Ebola is containment. Quarantine is the traditional and most effective means of dealing with a virus. Isolate the area of contamination and let the virus burn itself out. Though effective, it is not foolproof and it is also cruel. At times it requires a level of callousness that simply consigns people to die a horrible death. Quarantines, though, are becoming more difficult in our modern transit age. SO, is it wise to intentionally bring infected people into a country that has not had a single case of Ebola?

There are dangers in transporting Ebola patients into the US. Ebola is not airborne and if proper steps are followed it can be contained. But humans are notorious for making mistakes. The missionary from SIM did not have direct contact with patients, but was infected because of failure in safety protocols. There is always the threat of a mistake that will have horrific ramifications. And by the time the mistake is realized hundreds of people may be exposed to the virus. The ones who worry me most are those who claim there is no significant threat. Rational fear is a good thing and those who dismiss any fear are those who are prone to mistakes brought on by hubris. 

A virus is not a sentient being (despite what you may see in movies), but the virus follows a biological imperative to spread. The nature of a virus is to reproduce and it will adapt to fulfill its imperative. At the moment the Ebola virus is stable, but there is the possibility that it may adapt and become more contagious. It is an unlikely scenario, but with a virus this deadly every scenario must be kept in mind. 

There is also a historic note that worries me. Nearly a hundred years ago the world was ravaged by a mysterious virus known as the Spanish Flu. The 1918 Flu Pandemic killed somewhere between 3 and 6 percent of the world's population (perhaps as many as 100 million). That variation of the flu, which actually originated in China, was spread because of mass transit. Soldiers and laborers were transported to meet the needs of armies in World War One. The infection spread among those deployed in the war and then they took it back home with them. Public transportation and crowded public venues helped to spread the virus throughout urban populations. The same elements helped spread the SARS virus in urban Asian cities. There is not a direct correlation between the 1918 flu pandemic and the current Ebola outbreak, but is does paint a bleak picture of what can happen with an uninhibited virus.

HOWEVER, there are some good reasons for bring back the two infected missionaries back to the US. First, these are people who are dedicated to help others and every effort should be made to save them from the disease. Though Ebola has a high mortality rate, it can be survived with the right type of support. Basically, victims need support to keep them hydrated and to keep organs from failing. Primitive hospitals lack the equipment and personnel to meet the needs of large outbreaks. A modern, well staffed hospital can meet the needs for a handful of patients. The best hope for any victim would be a First World hospital. It would be impractical to bring all the Ebola patients to the First World and such a course of action would eventually overwhelm available resources. Epidemiologists have to be selective in who they bring out of Africa. At the moment a Spanish priest has been evacuated to Spain and two Americans have been brought to Atlanta. 

The evacuations are more than an attempt to save medical missionaries. Emory is an university hospital and as a university hospital they not only train doctors, they also perform cutting edge research. Many First World hospitals (or even medical ships)  can treat Ebola, but few facilities are equipped to cure it. I have no doubt that part of the motivation to bring the Ebola patients to Emory is to find a cure (and earn a Nobel Prize). If the two infected missionaries survive the virus it will provide needed data to create a vaccine. The expense and risk of bringing the Ebola patients to Emory will be worthwhile if a solution can be developed. 

Intentionally bringing Ebola patients into the US is risky. However, history demonstrates that Ebola will make its way into the US at some point. Global air travel guarantees the spread of viruses. At some point an Ebola carrier will enter the US undetected. By the time the disease is diagnosed hundreds will have been infected. The best way to head off this threat is find a treatment before that event transpires. The treatment of the two Ebola patients is still the best hope to protect the US population and to provide hope for the infected in Africa.