Reason and Rebirth

Reason and Rebirth

The Old Country is not so very old any more. I just had occasion to look at Ireland’s level of household income versus that in the United States. The US is at $44k where Ireland is $25k. But when you look at it based on purchasing power parity (PPP dollars) the numbers skew considerably to $60k versus $76k. So in absolute terms the income level in Ireland is only 57% of the US, but equilibrated for buying power, it is 127%. Ireland is #10 in the world in that measure (versus the US at #19) and it is even one place ahead of Norway, the oil-laden center of happiness of Europe according to recent studies. What’s up with that?

Tonight we were joined again by Vinnie the Irish natural historian, who seems to have lived several lives and is everywhere in County Kerry. We have bumped into him shopping in Kenmare and again today waiting for a Pompeii pizza in Waterville. He seems to know every road out here (somewhat understandable in a place with so few) and every soul, of which he says there are 246 who live in the four mile by eight mile area he calls home (he didn’t say in a way I could understand, but I suspect that’s the boundaries of Caherdaniel, the home of one of the stone ring forts or cathairs in Irish. Vinnie was a tech guy who lived in Dublin and the U.S. and tossed that all to come home to Kerry to reconnect with nature and his love for the sea. He seems to specialize in underwater nature photography and chatting up tourist groups like ours about anything and everything that interests us about Ireland, Irish history, Irish wildlife (particularly sea life) and the Irish language.

Ireland is a fascinating country and culture that seems torn in many directions besides just the Catholic/Protestant and North/South rift. The Irish seem to want to stay and yet want to go. They want to be a part of the European Union and yet they will soon be the only native English-speaking member country and they are more closely aligned with the United States. To hear Vinnie speak of it, despite his loyal Irish sentiments, he is very uncertain what the future hold for Ireland, and especially for the Western part of the Emerald Isle. It is that pain that seems to come through the Irish ballads and drive the lads and lasses to the pub to sing whiskey drinking songs. And yet, according to Vinnie, the new anti-smoking regulations have worn down the populace to the point where he feels it has actually stifled the drinking habits of his countrymen by virtue of the pub-goers getting weary of stepping outside for a smoke. Healthy natural ways and traditional unhealthy habits are just another rent in the Irish fabric.

It seems that Caherdaniel’s population used to be over 5,000 at one time before Vinnie was born and it fell to 2,500 in his youth and has since dwindled to a tenth that based on the latest count. Only Americans seeking a cheap vacation home and the occasional dispirited Dubliner move there now. There is much talk of what will become of a large sheep farm on the water, owned by an old octogenarian codger with no heirs. The answer is no one has a clue, but there will be blood, as Daniel Day Lewis might say.

Vinnie’s mantra seems to be that you should do whatever gets you through the day and live and let live otherwise. I tested this by bringing up the inherent aversion to President Donald J. Trump that seems shared across Ireland, Scotland, the UK, Europe and the civilized world at large. He did not take the bait. He gave a diplomatic answer that sounded a lot like an embarrassed Republican’s response to some Trump shenanigan, that all politicians are corrupt and difficult with which to live. I like Vinnie and I like his laissez faire approach, but I cannot abide by anything that cuts carrot-top any slack. This makes me wonder what would become of the world if everyone checked out like Vinnie and went in search of jellyfish photos at night and Pompeii pizza on the strand for lunch. Some might say it worked for Charlie Chaplin (a devote of Waterville in Kerry), but I suggest that the world can only support so many Vinnies before the next Donald happens by to take away Vinnie’s aquaculture and his right to wander the beach at night.

I am fascinated by lifecycles. In this case the lifecycle of a country, or perhaps more-so a culture. I must admit, I’ve really mostly pondered the American Empire dilemma as we peak and struggle with where the greatest empire of all time goes from here. Do we look to the Romans or the British as our guideposts for declining empire management? When I was in Greece last year and thought and read about the Eastern Roman Empire ruled from Constantinople (a.k.a. Byzantium or Istanbul), I pondered the cyclical struggles of Asia Minor or Anatolia or Turkey and its rise and fall over the millennia through various and culturally different forces of influence. Well, Ireland suffers in much the same way, mostly because of its location at the Western fringe of the European Continent. The Indo-European, Middle-European and Britton cultural movements westward found the Celtic influences concentrating in the western-most island of Eire. Vinnie says he can sing Welsh, Basque, Greek and Kazakhstani songs as easy as he can sing Gaelic music. He claims he is part of a millennial diaspora of Celtic blood. None of that helps him discern where to from here and the fatalism of being “at the end of the line” is simply too hard to fathom.

But today we found the answer. Half the group risked seasickness to take the boat to Skellig Michael. The other half went to The Skellig Experience on Valentia Island across from Port Magee to get a video tour of Skellig Michael. There we each learned that early Celts of monastic inclination sequestered themselves on this remote and almost uninhabitable island in order to get closer to God. Even within that small sect of a dozen monks, one or two would seek further isolation in the lofty peak on the island on an almost inaccessible ledge where comfort came only from a rainwater basin. This is truly the end of the Earth as Pre-Medieval Man understood it. And perhaps therein lies the answer. Make do with what the Earth provides naturally and seek divine guidance.

Perhaps Vinnie could live on that ledge, but I suspect I would still need WiFi to survive. So, let’s stop messing with Nationalism and Religious Isolationism and get back to a global playing field as level as we can make it, so that everyone can get themselves as close to their own God as possible. The Irish are on a fine path of doing just that so I’m not worried about them a‘tall.