St Patrick on Twitter?!

It's all Twitter's fault; this post, that is. On a day when I was experiencing annoying work-related computer issues I found inspiration through keeping half an eye on the the world's most ubiquitous micro-blogging site. It all started with a Tweet saying: I DARE YOU TO MOVE. I know caps are the online equivalent of shouting but knowing who'd posted it that didn't surprise me. I know they've just moved. Having moved less than two years ago ourselves I shot back a reply: we did!

Then I noticed another Tweet from one of life's thinkers: Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. How this came to become a day of revelry is beyond me.

This was followed by a link to St Patrick's Wikipedia page. Not being one who's particularly well versed in patron saint biographies I thought I should give such an infallible source a minute or twos attention. As I was reading I got a reply to my reply: A little less conversation and a little more action really rocks the boat.

I was reading that St Patrick had fled Ireland when he saw a vision in which people he took to be Irish called out to him: We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.

Ignoring my brother's interjection that perhaps it was Elvis rocking the boat, I suddenly saw something. My thinking friend was challenging me to make more of St Patrick than an excuse for a Guinness and my shouting friend wanted less talk and more walk – which strangely is exactly what the Irish wanted from Paddy. Their cry may be over fifteen-hundred years old but it rings as true today as it ever did. Why do many already afford Mother Teresa near saint-like status? Not for her speeches. She went and walked amongst India's poor. She was a servant to those others wouldn't touch. It's a cliché, I know, but her actions spoke louder than her words. Sadly too many are prepared to talk about change, too few to demonstrate it.

So St Patrick returned to the country he had escaped from and made his mark. If I am to learn something from his legacy then today of all days I should remind myself that those I walk amongst are not looking for a lecture but something a bit more practical.