Bobby Sands and Cinco de Mayo

EDIT: I first posted this last year but I thought it was worth another look today

Have you ever seen that commercial that shows a guy walking in Ireland and he goes into a pub where the place erupts in a Cinco de Mayo celebration? It's a clever commercial but the truth is May 5th is better remembered in Ireland as the day Bobby Sands died than for a market created Mexican holiday.

25 years ago Bobby Sands died in prison. He died as the result of a hunger strike. He died protesting the fact that he was being held as a common criminal instead of as a political prisoner. Back in 1981 that was pretty powerful stuff in the Lynch household.

My brother went to see Bobby Sands' brother speak out at UMass. He came back with a poster of the event that immediately went up on the wall of our shared bedroom. I think my brother still has that poster.

You have to understand that my parents were Irish and as a first generation Irish-American I was very proud of my roots. I listened to Irish music and read Leon Uris' Trinity on a yearly basis. Bobby Sands was a hero in the Lynch household.

Today I'm not so sure how I view Bobby Sands.

The IRA was and is a terrorist organization and after 9/11 - a bombing where innocents are killed is no longer something most people who previously supported the IRA can stomach. Bobby Sands' protest hurt no-one but himself. His belief was so strong that not even a plea from the Pope could make him give up his hunger strike. I guess I still admire the passion of Bobby Sands but not his cause.

And not the IRA.