The Color Purple

Have you ever seen that movie the Color Purple? You know, the one with Whoopi Goldberg? It has always been a favorite of mine. My mom and I used to watch it together and we loved the line where they are walking in the field and she says to Celie, "I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple and don't notice it." I encountered a similar feeling today while taking in Dublin. One of the hardest parts about Fall Quarter for me was when we learned about the famine. This terrible, horrible tragedy that could have been prevented and wasn't. It was perpetuated in the name of providence. Far be it for the English to interrupt THEIR trade routes to make sure the people of Ireland had food. Not to mention how they said it was a shame only a 1,000 or so died...

Anyway I won';t get into the hairy details. We were given a picture of the Famine Memorial in Dublin to look at. 6 ghostly figures all walking along side the Liffey with tattered clothes and very solemn and skinny body language. One has a child draped over his shoulder while a dog is awaiting eagerly for the body to be dropped... It was sad in the picture... It was sad studying it... But seeing it in person was just.... A different experience all together. I know it is the first of many things to click within my soul as we are only on day 2 of Ireland, but the connection cut me to the core...

One man in the middle them had a solemn face and carried a bundle of something. His hat was drooping over his head, his clothes in tatters and his hands were clutching tightly to that bundle. I shed a few tears...and was very silent... very quiet inside myself. What a beautifully haunting feeling. As I was getting ready to leave I over heard two American girls talking about how Dublin has such sad things in it... One said, "It is not right that there are so many memorials. I am so tired of all the sadness." My body tightened... I knew they had never read Paddys Lament or thought about what had TRULY happened... I knew they were just Americans in Ireland for the Craic... (WHICH IS FINE BUT NOT WHERE I AM AT) As I began to walk away, not taking eyes off the river... I thought about the movie the Color Purple... I thought about how you can walk by things and be around things that have sadness, and how you "could" never let it in. You could walk by the color purple 20 times a day and never notice how amazing of a color it is. Just like you can come to Ireland and walk by the River Liffey and not understand the pain, loss and sadness that has happened here...

As for me, I chose to let it in. Every moment I am here I am choosing to recognize what has happened... I am open to allow the sadness to come upon me. Not take it in me.. But to experience it, honor it and allow it to pass.

For me this experience is... Well it is a lot like the color purple and I intend on recognizing it with every step I take....