L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2018 www.italoamericano.org 4 Ho! For Columbus Day E very time the month of O ctober rolls around, many people think about the change o f the s ea- sons, from summer to now true fall. The holidays are just ahead, and so we all gear up to see how and where and if we will spend them and, of course, with whom, too. So, we all go out and look for the way we can get ready: fix the car, buy need ed w arm clothes or bathing suits, depend- ing on whether we will be going, North or South. But while all this is going on in our families or circle of friends, do we ever really stop to think about why all this fuss and bustle is so important? What really moves us? Will our friends think us foolish or wise? What about what we, ourselves, really want to get into, and why? Sure, Halloween is going to be fun but, if you're Italian or Italian American, is that really the holiday that's going to start up your motor, get you going to celebrate getting through another year? Or is there another more personal feast you can wrap your head around and feel good about you, your family and friends? What's on your mind? Oh, yeah, there's Columbus Day. That's right. There's the parade, maybe, or that school or commu- nity center dance, maybe. But what about you yourself? What does all that hullabaloo of a holiday mean to you? And why Columbus? So let's understand this: You're an Italian or an American with some roots in Italy, the country your parents or probably your grand-parents came from. That's nice, but so what? Now, YOU are here, so what's the big deal? Let's see. If you plan to buy a new jack- et to go North or maybe, just let's say, a new bathing suit to go South and enjoy some sum- mer for a little bit longer, you plop down your cash or pony up a credit card and just go! It's that simple. But then, let's think about Nonna, or even Pop. How did they do it, to get up go? Not so easily, you think? Did they just get up one morning and say that was the day they were leaving their family behind because there was not enough money for two or three other fares? What about the courage to do that? What about the clothes they needed to go out of the house like a "Cris- tiano" and not like a "pezzente." So then, where did this courage to venture forth from their native environments, leaving behind their language, their way of get- ting through their daily lives come from? Would we make it through the inevitable hardships and prej- udices we'd have to face in a journey such as theirs? We all have role models, either from the movies or comics or wherever. But who were Nonna's or Zio's, who had little access to film, and no smart phones, Facebook, Twitter? Could one of these models be Columbus? Christopher Columbus left his home when he was about twelve years old to be a sailor. He spent the greater part of his youth on the Mediterranean, hitting ports all over: Spain, Africa, the Mid- dle East. He met all kinds of people, some as young as him and others much older, speaking different languages, but all har- boring the same curiosity as him for "the different:" something new, something totally foreign but alluring, and something they all wanted. This is the spirit that propelled him to do novel things, find new adventures, and discover what he needed to in order to fulfill him- self, in a better way; just like Nonna and Zio and maybe your Mom and Dad, too. So the question then is: can praising audacious courage and compelling motivation be the real reason we all have gotten into the habit of celebrating Columbus Day? Not just the man himself but also, and most importantly, those in our own family and among our friends who found and continue to find the same impulse to be, as the Army ad used to say, "All You Can Be." More than just devouring the pizzas and the cannolis and the lasagne and the broccoli rabe we all truck out, isn't it possible that, while we wash all this good food down with Poppa's wine or some friend's Prosecco, we are also acknowledging the importance of growing, developing and enjoy- ing the harvest of our experi- ences, some of good taste and others not so much, but each and everyone of them all important for building a solid appreciation of the luck we have, everyday and not only in October, of knowing who we are and what we are capable of doing well and effectively? So raise the glass, dance the dance, and be glad you are fortu- nate enough to understand the whys and hows to be the Italian Columbuses of today, in this great country of ours. And since we live in such a diverse nation, we can easily find "the different" around us without needing to travel too far. It is so very clear that Italian Americans are not the only ones to buy the tickets to the dances or rock star shows that sparkle on the eve of Columbus Day. There are so many different Americans like us who feel the need to understand and respect our separate person- alities. Like the famous New York sociologist Dr. Richard Richard Gambino once said, we make up a "salad bowl of peo- ple." This is such a better image of who we are as a nation than the usual "melting pot," simply because it clearly underlines the fact we can all live in one coun- try and yet continue to enjoy all of our native customs and lan- guages. There is so much room in our America for celebrating the "different." What a gift! So let's all strut out and get down with our tarantellas, fox trots, jitter-bugs, and cha-cha- chas with pride. As his sailors, who sighted land ahead, used to shout out: ho! Columbus! Think about our ancestors: would we make it through the same hardships and prejudices they had to face when they first migrated? THOMAS E. VESCE Columbus Day: more than a parade, it's a moment to remember our roots and identity. © Laurence Agron | Dreamstime.com NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS

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