1EQQ8ZzGD

Area weren't handpicked by fate, they just moved here.)
The second is that a significant fraction of the Irish I meet
out here not only display the dutiful fondness for Ireland, but
actively think about how to improve it. It seems that almost
all my conversations with Irish emigrants eventually turn to
"So — what could we do to make it better back home?"
More often than not (and as befits the Valley, I guess),
they’ve already tried a bunch of things, are working on a
couple of projects to bring some favored aspect of the US
to Ireland. They tend to retain much of their Irish identity.
They openly talk about the Irish background, return home
frequently, bring visitors to Ireland, hire Irish interns, keep
their headquarters in Ireland, prod government ministers
to change such-and-such a policy. Far from detaching themselves,
as you might expect a guilty emigrant to do, they tend
to proudly involve themselves in the day-to-day ups-and-downs
of the country.
There's a long history of this, from Chuck Feeney (trivia:
he's responsible for both Bayside Village in San Francisco and
much of the university infrastructure in Ireland) to the guys
behind things like Funconf and F.ounders.
I think this is a very worthy and surprisingly universal
trait, and probably more useful than guilt.
[1] http://www.independent.ie/national-news/hyde-and-devalera-offered-condolences-on-hitlers-death-228426.html
[2] http://www.economist.com/node/3372495
[3] http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4c8b2a44-c823-11e0-
9852-00144feabdc0.html – If you get their paywall, just
Google the URL, and click through with a google.com
referrer.
[4] http://www.worldcrunch.com/ireland-model-how-westcan-recover/3566
74
http://www.quora.com/l/boq-patrick-collison