A Pilgrim's Story Version 2.0

 In the biblical story, God commands the prophet Jonah to preach repentance to the wicked city of Nineveh. Unwilling to go, Jonah boards a ship bound for Tarshish, fleeing in the opposite direction. Jonah despised the assignment; he hated the Ninevites and longed not for their redemption, but for their judgment.

 

My own story bears a faint resemblance to Jonah’s. When I first heard my parents speak of leaving my Sicily homeland for the United States, I was filled with dread. I wanted no part of such a journey.  I loved the life I knew—grazing sheep with my father in the Madonie Mountains of north-central Sicily, surrounded by the rugged beauty and familiar rhythms of home. But at twelve years old, I possessed no power to resist what had already been decided for me. When the day of departure finally came, my heart was broken. As we boarded the Italian Cruise ship, the Saturnia, at the Port of Palermo, I turned to my mother and pleaded with her to leave me behind. She refused. Our family consisted of six children and my parents.  The youngest was a mere 8 months old.

 

We left Palermo in mid-March1956 heading out of the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean.  The entire trip to New York Harbor took two weeks; the Atlantic was in a very bad mood; rough seas seem to have lasted the entire crossing.  Having never been on a ship before we were all seasick and hardly ever left our cabin.  I don’t remember ever eating in the ship’s cafeteria.

 

Upon arrival at the New York Harbor, we debarked and headed straight to the train station for our trip across the entire United States to Los Angeles with a stop in Chicago to change trains.  Not ever having had any American food such as mayonnaise or mustard we ate sparingly. As we arrived at Union Station Los Angeles, I noticed weather I had never seen, overcast skies.  Where we’re from it was either sunny or foggy, never overcast. My dad’s sponsor, his sister, met us at Union Station and took us to our rented one-bedroom duplex in the Leimert Park section of Los Angeles. 

 

Los Angeles was a beautiful city in the mid 1950s, clean well-kept streets with Palm trees that reached for the sky.  We lived in a mixed neighborhood, black and white families living in total harmony.  This was the first time I had ever seen a black person.  I did not discover until later of the racial discrimination that was going on in other parts of the country.  Where we lived, however, I never saw discrimination.  My very first friend was Norman Aubry, a black kid down the block.  I adjusted quickly.  Our house was next to an empty lot.  With my two younger brothers we built a pigeon cage and raised fancy pigeons:  Tumblers, rollers and fantails.  We managed to recreate something of what we left behind in Sicily. Los Angeles was a very safe city.  We could ride the bus to anywhere without trouble.  I later managed to buy a used bike and rode around freely.  On one occasion, I rode my bike to Griffith Park which was about 14 miles from our house.  On my return trip heading south on Western Avenue, I was hit by a car and knocked down.  Luckily, I was unhurt.  A passing off-duty policeman who witnessed the accident, took me home with my broken bike.

 

My parents enrolled me into Angeles Mesa Elementary school which was two blocks from our house.  I was the only foreign student.  Not speaking a word of English, my teacher, Mr. Fox, just put me in the last row against the wall and left me alone.  This proved to be the best solution.  Within a few months I could speak English with my fellow students semi-fluently. Total immersion was a big success. 

 

I had my first Coca Cola at the vending machine of Van Ness Park. Ten cents would get you a cold bottle.  I also learned to play the carroms board game.  There we also met the park custodian who took us under his wing and looked after us. Within a year I got a job throwing the afternoon Los Angeles Mirror News newspaper. 

 

The traumatic events I experienced by the move have lasted to a small degree.  I still resent the fact that I was moved to an unknown place against my wishes.  I hold no animosity against my parents; however, they did what they believed was to be the best for us.  Sometimes God has a job for us that we do not like, like Jonah, but it is the right job for us.  Just do it.