Ok, so gonna go off on a little rant on why this country means so much to me, and how my family came here from Italy:
My father was decorated police officer and my mother owned her own hair salon in Trieste, Italy. They had a little boy (my brother) and they had a decent life /1

but my father wanted more and he knew that there was a country out there that gave you an opportunity that if you worked hard you could achieve your dreams. So he packed up his wife and his boy and took a boat to NY and went through Ellis Island and settled in Buffalo, NY /2

He worked hard to learn to be a tile setter and my mother learned how to speak English through "I Love Lucy". They were treated poorly by some being called WOP, Dago, and grease ball but my father didn't let that bother him as he always said "the good way outweighed the bad" /3

In the mid 60's my dad moved his family out to California where he had a second son (me) and he started his own tile setting business and continued to work had providing for his family and realizing the American dream. He was proud of being Italian and always reminded us that /4

But he was equally proud of becoming a citizen of the U.S. and what that represented. I asked him once if he ever regretted leaving Italy for here and he told me "no, because this is the greatest country in the world that gave me the best life for my family and me" /5

My father is/was my hero and taught me a lot about how to be a man and a decent human being but the one thing that the one thing that he instilled in me is pride...in my heritage, myself, my family, and my country. Remember we are still the greatest country on earth. /end