The wife and I have somewhat cliche stories to tell though I don’t know how to say that word in Spanish. Neither does she know the word cliche in English but I’ll use it here in description of the very classic immigrant stories we have to tell. As a young boy I arrived by ship to end the voyage passing the Statue of Liberty before setting foot upon that New York City dock just as millions had done before me. The wife also arrived in the United States by vessel. Unable to swim she crossed the Rio Grande on a tire tube to set foot on that river bank in Texas as millions had done before her.
The differences between the wife and I are many and seemingly endless but we live a life which would appear to be the mantra of of the Corporate World which rules over the “big box” where I once worked ….. “Diversity and Inclusion.” After all these years this is obviously something we believe in though we have learned that with out sincerity it has little chance. It must be backed by no extraneous motivation and face both directions…. or it must fail.
Looking at the map of Italy my boss of years ago, Achiles Bonaparte, came from the heel of the boot while his business partner Tony Tammaro hailed from a more refined Milan. They were Italian through and through and held great pride of that fact. They built a crew of masons to construct schools in northern Massachusetts and I’m very proud to say I was one of those men. We were the epitome of the American melting pot, full of Italian born, American born, French Canadian with even Dominica and Israel represented. The differences between us were many and seemingly endless, but together we spent our work days under the hot sun chasing that American Dream.
One morning as we sat together sharing our coffee break and telling stories the local Mayor and other dignitaries arrived to take note of how many “foreign” licence plates were parked in that construction site parking lot in Massachusetts.
“We feel you should be hiring more local help if you are going to be doing work in this area.”…. is what the Mayor informed Achiles and continued on with…….. “We notice quite a few out of state New Hampshire licence plates here.”
…… and Achiles response was swift and with no waver as he gestured towards us all…….
“I’ma wanna you looka something you sonummabitch…….I’ma wanna you taka looka my crew….. local help ?… I’ma hire Americans you prick and thatsa good enough !”
And right there, right then , Achiles made us all feel exactly that… diverse, inclusive, American…….and proud. And so Achiles, from one American to another…..
thank you, very much.
