“I’M PATRICK”

I wear the shirt once a year, or maybe to a conference from time to time as ice breaker attire. I made it for a speaking engagement I did a few years ago at Rancho Cucamonga High School on St. Patrick’s Day. The shirt is a nice forest green. The text is pretty simple:

“I’M PATRICK”

I wear it every St. Patrick’s Day, and still I’m always surprised by the reactions I get.

“Are you really Patrick?”

“Is your name really Patrick?”

“Wow, you’re actually named Patrick?”

On more than one occasion, I’ve gone through airport security on St. Patrick’s Day only to have the TSA agent surprised by the shirt and the fact that my government ID matches up with the name.

I never thought the shirt would be this surprising. No, I’m not claiming to have anything to do with snakes and Ireland, but my name really is Patrick. It seemed like a funny and practical St. Patrick’s Day shirt. I never thought so many people would be surprised by my honesty with the shirt. Yet, it seems that’s where we’re sadly heading–to a place where honesty is not the norm.

I’m not happy about that, and I think we need to strive to change it.

A friend of mine posted a facebook status update today: “Quote from student leadership essay, ‘I am honest in mostly everything I do.’ Is that the new trend?”

I hope it isn’t. I hope that we can be more honest and more authentic. Yes, there are situations where people don’t need brutal honesty or an “I told you so,” but we do need to be real.

We need to be true to ourselves and to the person we strive to be.

We need to be authentic in our interactions and our relationships.

If we do this, I believe we’ll reach a better understanding of who we are and the nature of our relationships.

It’s what I hope and try to do as I live each day stating “I’M PATRICK”