UC Berkeley and the St. Patricks Day Apathy

*Sigh...*

Another holiday, another disappointing showing from Cal students.

Perhaps this is a trend amongst college students in general (I wouldn't really know, having only been to one college), but it seems as though people are very selective in the ways they celebrate their holidays.

(Note: I am strictly speaking about fun, nearly fully-secularized holidays here.)

For example, people are more than willing to gorge themselves on sweets on Halloween, but Lord forbid they put on a costume. Valentine's Day seems to have become less about love and more about sex. And St. Patrick's Day? Well, people are more than willing to drink themselves senseless, but I mean, c'mon! Is it that hard to wear a little green?

We're not asking for much!

A shirt! A button! A scrunchie, for God's sake!

But no, nothing will do. I estimate that less than 15% of people wore any sort of green for St. Pat's Day. There are only a few reasons I can fathom for this:

1. Cal has a high percentage of atheists in it.
While this is true, I think we can kind of discount it as a reason. Like I said, St. Pat's day is mostly secularized at this point. And I find that even staunch atheists don't really refrain from celebrating Christian holidays. ("I don't want to take Christmas off! That's contrary to my lack of faith!") In any event, it's likely something else.

2. Cal has a high percentage of Asians in it.
"I knew it!" you're thinking. "Ol' Andrew has turned into a racist! Time to expunge that honkey from our society!" Hold on a second, mister! I'm not talking about Asian-Americans here (who do still hold the plurality at Cal). I'm talking about Asians. As in, from Asia. As in, not American citizens. Hence, there is a fairly good chance that they don't have much experience with what is primarily a Western holiday. While I would like to say that this is the case, there were still plenty of non-Asians not wearing green. So, it must be something else.

3. Cal students have no holiday spirit.
That's the one! I think this is unequivocally true. People have no spirit! It's like a bunch of Grinches-in-training. I usually find that I put the most effort into celebrating holidays, especially by reaching out to others, as evidenced here and here. As far as I know, nobody else does this. Why? Because they're lame! That's right! Cal may be a wonderful educational institution, but when it comes to even an iota of holiday cheer, I have to imagine we rank really far down.

...Maybe still above BYU, though. I can't imagine there being too much excess cheer there.

And what about me? Am I being hypocritical by preaching about wearing green and then not doing so myself. Well, take a look for yourself at what I looked like all day (excuse the overall disheveledness; I had taken a nap before taking this picture):(As a little aside, I personally think suspenders are like canes: they're lame if you have to use them, but if you don't need them, they're awesome!)

Also, I would like to note that this is the first day in three months that I've eaten red meat, specifically so that I could have a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner. Now that's holiday spirit!