Padraic
Thank you for your response. That is much the way I have read the situation myself, that folks grow up learning of the famine and the importance it played. When I was growing up it was Cromwell we would be hearing of, and what a right devil he was. It appears to have permanently altered the landscape in America as well, judging from the number of Irish living over here now whose families came during that time. There were a few leaving when my family left, but nowhere near the numbers of the 1840s. It is a sad statement of our people that often times leaving was necessary to survive. I also met a few who left in '98 and '99 after the rising failed. It brought me low to hear of it, and the tales they told could bring chills. You would know better than I how being Irish has its own unique mixture of extreme joy and extreme sadness, often times at the same time and difficult to distinguish from one another. It sounds that things are better now, but that there are still some difficulties. I look forward to seeing your other comments.
Padraic
Thank you for your response. That is much the way I have read the situation myself, that folks grow up learning of the famine and the importance it played. When I was growing up it was Cromwell we would be hearing of, and what a right devil he was. It appears to have permanently altered the landscape in America as well, judging from the number of Irish living over here now whose families came during that time. There were a few leaving when my family left, but nowhere near the numbers of the 1840s. It is a sad statement of our people that often times leaving was necessary to survive. I also met a few who left in '98 and '99 after the rising failed. It brought me low to hear of it, and the tales they told could bring chills. You would know better than I how being Irish has its own unique mixture of extreme joy and extreme sadness, often times at the same time and difficult to distinguish from one another. It sounds that things are better now, but that there are still some difficulties. I look forward to seeing your other comments.
Padraic