THANK YOU ST. PATRICK,       I LOVE MOPPING                    

Greta Vrabcová

When I was fifteen I had my first job ever, I worked in McDonald's. I chose it because I have been told how bad it was and wanted to prove people wrong. I remember this one particular day when I got assigned to take care of the 'restaurant's' lobby and had this great experience connected to the topic of St. Patrick's Day that I will now present. Let me tell you, the only two months that I suffered in that job were terrible. But nothing can clearly be compared to this exact day, March 17th, when I cleaned vomit and blood of this Irish man that came in with a group of other dizzy friends and in total drunkenness slipped on the lobby's entrance stairs, threw up a mix of food with green beer and fell on his head. As we can see, this holiday is not only celebrated in Ireland or Britain. Who was St. Patrick though? And how come a 15 years-old-girl living in Prague had the privilege to mop the floor in his name?

I did some digging on the internet and it turns out that St. Patrick wasn't originally even called St. Patrick. His name was Maewyn Succat and he was a slave. He wasn't religious and he only did what he was told to. Just like me, I didn't choose to be cleaning all that mess, my boss told me to. In fact, I can relate to him a little bit. Well, Patrick was sold to a master and served in captivity for six years. On this we can see the first heroic sign, I quitted after two months, he withstanded seventy-two. During his captivity he became a Christian and started to hear a voice compelling him to leave his master and come back home to Britain, which he did.

He studied in a monastery for twelve years which is another heroic part and another reason I could be mistaken for St. Patrick - this is my thirteenth year of school and I don't believe it's the last one. But St. Patrick, still called Maewyn Succat at that time, believed, in God though, and during his monastery studies he realized his calling was to go back to Ireland and tell pagans about God. He obtained his Christian name Patricius that we today simplify to Patrick and set off. On this perfect example we can see how studies can change our lives and shape us into who we are or who we want to be. I believe I won't receive any new names at the end of my studies but if it happens, I hope it's not Patricia. Though the name Patricius means a nobleman, so what a change out of a slave!

St. Patrick was later appointed a bishop and returned to Ireland. He established many monasteries, schools and churches. He was also the one who brought literacy to Ireland. Eventually he came back to his master, who had been his slaver, and wanted to pay him his ransom. A legend has it though, that his master rather gathered everything he had in his mansion and set it on fire with him in it. Partly because he couldn't bear being vanquished by his former slave and partly because the stories being told about him became public and didn't make him look like a very good druid. To add something from my story here, I definitely am not paying any ransom to my ex-employees, this is the 21st century, right? And anyway, if they reacted the way Patrick's master did, where would the half of the world eat? 

Today, people celebrate St. Patrick's day with a pint of green beer caused by food colouring and wear green hats and buy souvenirs with leprechauns on it. Why don't we honor a hero that escaped slavery, brought literacy to Ireland, taught people about loving God, established schools and monasteries? A hero who stood up against his adversities and fought for what God told him to do? Hey, I don't know. Maybe it's the same reason we go egg-hunting on Easter and decorate our houses with bunnies decorations. The history develops through centuries and sometimes changes its quinessence. We should dig its roots and try to understand it. If more people have had understood, I would had not feel as a total loser standing in a lobby full of people with a mop.