We were sitting out on the patio thinking about several scenarios of how our family will celebrate father's day. I am now the oldest living member of my family with four children and six grandchildren. My family, on both sides, has been in America since before the revolution. My wife is half Italian, one quarter Russian and one quarter Slovakian. Since we were discussing Father's Day, we concentrated on her father. His parents came to the US in 1909 from Le Marche. Neither ever spoke English. Marino worked in the coal mines in southern West Virginia and their 4 children went to the local schools. My wife's father, Nicola never let his daughter learn to speak Italian. He mostly isolated her from his parents while he and his wife raised her as an American. They were devout Catholics but she chose to marry a Protestant/Atheist and they accepted me because I was the person their daughter chose. Their worst fears and hopes were realized when we had four children, all of whom were non-Christian but also very American. All of those children went to college and lead pretty decent lives. Nicola, who also worked in the mines, died of black lung, emphysema and silicosis. He would not have changed a thing about his life and would have been fulfilled because his objectives were accomplished, not by his sacrifice but by his effort and determination to assimilate and to make a better life.
When I think of this, I think of what our freedom is all about, what personal satisfaction it is to better oneself and those that you love. I can't believe that any philosophy that robs us of this can be anything but evil. I can't believe that anyone should come to America other than in the spirit of Marino Capriotta and all those that came to the melting pot and made it a better place for all. I think this is relevant here because I see what made Ayn Rand, the immigrant love her.adopted country as she did.