As we get ready to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, I am reflecting on how grateful I am to be a part of the greatest country in the world. My family story is the great American story. My grandparents came over from Italy in 1921. I went to Italy last year to look at the small town in Calabria that my grandmother and grandfather left to start a new life in a country called America. While I was standing in the town where they were from, I was trying to imagine just how bad it must’ve been. It must’ve been terrible with no future for my grandfather that he felt it necessary to walk away from everything he had and everything he had known to travel across the world with my grandmother and nothing more than a suitcase in each of their hands. I was trying to imagine the courage it must’ve taken to make a move like that. And my grandmother, just trusting my grandfather that he was doing the right thing for his family. Simply Amazing!
They arrived in Ellis Island and were processed like millions of immigrants. My grandfather, like many Italians, was discriminated against and treated very, very poorly to put it mildly. After leaving Ellis Island, they put the Italians on a bus, and they shipped them to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to work in the coal mines. My grandfather didn’t mind it or at least didn’t complain about it to my grandmother. She was terrified. There was no such thing as safety precautions back then and she was worried every day that my grandfather wouldn’t come home. One day, my grandfather got a letter from a friend of his, who was digging ditches in Syracuse, New York. That man was telling my grandfather what a great job that was, how much money he was making (which was a few dollars a week), and how he got to be outside to breathe the fresh air. He asked my grandfather if he wanted to come to Syracuse and dig ditches with him. My grandfather showed the letter to my grandmother, and they instantly said yes together. So, they left the coal mines of Scranton and headed to Syracuse to dig ditches and start their family. My father told me that my grandfather absolutely loved his job of digging ditches and couldn’t have been happier. They had seven children. My father was the oldest male. They started a small farm in Syracuse. They worked harder than any people I’ve ever known, and they were so grateful and so happy to have an opportunity in America. My father always felt responsible for taking care of all his brothers and sisters as the oldest male, and he didn’t disappoint. He was serving his brothers and sisters right up until the day he died. There have been three generations of Polimino’s in the US since my grandfather and grandmother. My son, Micah, is the next Polimino male to carry on our name, and together with my daughter Malia, will continue our traditions, our beliefs, our ethnic heritage, and all we hold sacred.
“With our nation approaching its 250th anniversary, I find myself overcome with gratitude, joy, and emotion—deeply thankful for the generations of my family whose sacrifices
opened so many doors for me. I have been so blessed to be born in this country and to be given the opportunities presented to me. I’m so thankful to have been part of the real estate industry. This business has given me a life I could only have imagined. It has taken me places and allowed me to do things that most of the world would envy. I’ve met some amazing people over the 20 years in this business, both clients and colleagues. There’s been lots of ups and downs. There’s been plenty of wins and losses, and nothing, and I mean nothing, has come easy. But through it all, I only really remember the good times, and I’m grateful for that.
As I close this month’s cover article, I hope you can feel the heartfelt emotion that I have for being an American. As I watch all the Europeans visiting the US for the World Cup, I’m so happy that they love America. I watch their interviews on TV, and they talk about how great the hamburger they just ate was; they are amazed by free refills for their coffee, free air conditioning in public buildings, or their biggest discovery, which is the Big Gulp at 7-Eleven. I listen to them gush about how terrific America is. I hope and pray that’s contagious.
I suspect many of you reading this have stories like my story. If you’d love to share them, I would love to read them. God bless you and your family as we approach the Fourth of July weekend. God bless the United States of America, and thank you, Lord, for allowing a sinner like me to be a part of it.
Warm Aloha.
Dan Polimino
