St. Patrick’s Day. It’s the celebration of everything Irish. Look for leprechauns, drink a Guinness, wear a green shirt and yell “Kiss Me, I’m Irish.”

This weekend I ran the Shamrock Half-Marathon in Virginia Beach, Va., a harrowing experience that has left me hobbled, in incredible pain and wanting desperately to do it again. Sick, I know.

But it was on the way to this race that my mind was stirred by a musical conundrum. Listening to a bagpiper on the radio, I thought, are there female bagpipers? I know I’ve never seen one.

The pipers are called to all sorts of official duties from parades to funerals, playing in traditional garb and blasting out the unmistakable blare of their instrument. They often play in groups, though a single piper is sufficient to set a mood.

And yet, women are so rare among those ranks that everyone I’ve asked in the last few days has never seen such a thing.

Thanks to the internet we know they exist, a relief in a world that has too much division for arbitrary or just plain stupid reasons. According to one site, there is a myth that women were forbidden from playing, and such an offense would mean the loss of fingers.

Depending on how true that may have been, and especially how if might have been codified may be a beacon into the situation itself. Women were barred from voting until a Constitutional Amendment gave them such a right. Not only was a barrier lifted, but the situation went beyond even “we’re not saying you can’t,” to “yes, please do.”

So I propose the next amendment to the U.S. Constitution: “No person shall be restricted from piping, bag or other, based on race, religion, sex, creed or nation of origin.”