La Mierda that “Danny Boy” taught me.
We met in Melaque, Jalisco. Dan was singing in the shower where he exposed… his Fenian Proclivities.
He insisted that Melaque was a derivative of malarkey and while he spun his tale I was smitten by his intellect and passion. Outside, Mexican Indians, festooned in forty shades of green and celebrating St. Patrick’s Day embellished his Melaque/Malarkey comparison. Later on, the parallel he sketched between Emiliano Zapata and James Connolly revealed his love for Mexico, Eire and La Lucha for social justice.
He immediately enlisted me in The St. Patrick’s Battalion as Private Low Class Brian Boru and I have been marching in his prodigious wake for thirty “odd” years.
Some of La Mierda that Dan taught me during our Odyssey are
noblesse oblige,
persistence,
the joy of commitment,
simplify your life,
keep hope in play,
seek a better community,
foster massive social resistance,
take a nap,
the importance of being earnest,
justicia praevabit,
ask people to act,
enjoy life’s adventures and
stay tuned.
Dan also taught me “that he carried from his mother’s womb, a fanatic heart.”
I’m a man of few regrets but I regret that I wasn’t Dan’s neighbor. However, because Dan pulled us all into his love laced orbit, he has always been close to my heart.
Companero! Venceremos! Con Mucho Amor
Brian Boru Fitzpatrick
Colorado, Nov 14, 2022
