Last-Borns

It’s interesting to put myself in my grandfather’s shoes, say, in 1900 when he was 16 years old, King Umberto was assassinated--and you can imagine the life of a 16-year-old, even in 19th century Italy, someone who is still mostly an adolescent, also a last-born, and is probably following the dictatorial father, wanting him to pursue things that he had wanted him to do. It wasn’t a situation like it is in the United States where we do whatever we want. In 1908, when he was in his 30s, he came to the United States, making several trips back and forth to Italy, persuading his wife to come with him to the US, and I compare my life now when I’m now a senior citizen, and I’m aghast at the situation we’re in the US. He was extremely lucky to be born when he was born: he totally missed fascist Italy, and here we are with the US as a fascist state with Trump the Mussolini. I could be over-reacting, but the problem is we’ve under-reacted.

I remember the morning of March 30, 1981 when I was sitting around with a group of friends and a special report came on the TV about Reagan being shot. I was about the same age as my grandfather at that point. Imagine that TV existed in 1900.  That moment would have been kind of galvanizing, but at the same time, perhaps at the age of 16, you’re not really interested in the news. But your parents certainly are, or anyone who is old enough to know what was going on in politics. So how is it that someone eventually makes the decision to leave a country, 8 years after a political upheaval? Take that to today, and 8 years from now, 2033, will be another 1933, then a 1939, then a 1941, then a 1945. So what force(s) will now come to the rescue of the US?