The effects of Hurricane Helene should give us all pause. Imagine sitting in your home having dinner with your family one day only to have that same home swept away in a flood the next. It’s devastating. It’s heartbreaking. It’s sobering.
It also puts everything in perspective.
Although I don’t have an entirely clear picture of my family history, I know enough to create a historical tapestry with the sum of all the parts. I’m a descendent of Irish and Italian immigrants, both of whom arrived to America sometime in the mid to late 19th and early 20th centuries. Both sides of my family arrived with essentially nothing. The clothes on their backs and items in their luggage counted as their worldly possessions at the time.
The Irish side was escaping extreme poverty, a result of the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. Imagine traveling halfway across the world because you were unable to obtain the humblest of foods to eat. I routinely buy microwaveable potatoes at the store for about $2. It’s hard not to think of my ancestors every time I pick up a potato and add it to my cart. It’s crazy to think how easy it is for me compared to how it must have been for them.
I know less about the Italian side other than to say they also arrived in America penniless. They didn’t know the language, had limited life skills and were eager to provide a better life for their family. That they did. In just one generation, their sons and daughters were able to buy houses, have fulfilling careers and catapult their children to more success then they ever would have achieved in the “old country.”
The American dream is less about what you own and more about what can be achieved through hard work, sacrifice and thankfulness for what you’ve been given. The freedoms and upward mobility we enjoy is the direct result of what has been handed to us by our ancestors.
As devastating as it is for those who lost everything last week, it’s not the end of the story. Some would say that I shouldn’t comment because I wasn’t impacted. This is true. I wasn’t impacted financially and wouldn’t know how I’d feel if I were. I assume I’d be scared, frustrated and unsure of what lies ahead. This would be the beginning of a full range of emotions that would swirl through my mind on a daily basis.
My point is this. Many of us are descendants of immigrants who arrived on our shores with nothing and built lives for themselves through a tenacity and determination that could not be stopped. Each family had their own version of Manifest Destiny.
If you believed and worked hard, good things would come. We could do anything we put our minds to. America has a way of banding together in tough times. Our ancestors taught us these lessons and we put them into practice if and when we’re called upon to do so.
The amount of support being shown to those currently struggling, particularly in Western North Carolina, has been inspiring. Although we have our differences across the political spectrum, we’re all Americans in the end. The love and care being shown puts everything into a very clear perspective.
The love of family and friends are more valuable than anything else you can purchase. All your worldly goods can be swept away in an instant.
We don’t know what tomorrow will bring but we do know we can face it together. Of that, I think our ancestors would be proud.
