Opinion: These Children Came To America and That's Why I Am Here

It's so simple for me when I see the faces of Aunt Sadie, Aunt Anna, Aunt Genny, Uncle Tommy and then my own mother being processed at Ellis Island.

Although all but uncle Tommy were born in New York, the D'Agostino family had to go back to Italy for financial and survival reasons, while my grandfather labored as a doorman in New York City to save enough money for them to eventually come back.

While in Italy,Uncle Tommy was born. America welcomed these children, my aunts, mother, and uncle back in the USA during tough times, including the Depression, with open arms. They all grew up and had wonderful American families with perhaps 25 descendants living on Long Island alone. Others live in other parts of New York State, Texas,Washington DC, Pennsylvania,Florida, South Carolina, New Jersey, Connecticut and Georgia. All from these kids in that photo. That to me is the power of the American story.

With thousands of children heading to America for a chance to be one of us, somehow, someday, says a lot about who and what we are. Our country is the best bet on having a chance to have a good life, a chance parents are willing to have their children die to attain.

That's powerful.

To my friends who landed from Lynn, Massachusetts in 1840, settling in Southampton, and 1848, in East Hampton, keep in mind that your people took the same risks of life or death for a chance for a better future.

I studied American history at George Washington University and had to read the accounts of the suffering of the pilgrims on those ships crossing the ocean and landing in Massachusetts in the winter. William Bradford wrote, "December 16, 1620 there were 99 'first comers.'" And by 1621 he recorded, "the death of 44 more passengers." My point is a huge percentage died to make a foothold in America. I believe the struggle and sacrifice of immigration must continue not just by looking at the young faces of my aunts, my mother and uncle but because at the end of the day in my heart, soul, and mind I know it is the right thing to do.

The Bible tells us that Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus, were refused a place for him to be born until he was born in a manger surrounded by hay and animals. I am guessing on this long march to America there will be some children born — born on a trip to America for a chance at a better life. I define our lifetime not as one during which people only thought of greed and not sharing what they were born into or achieved or built; but for the chance, the possibility, the hope for America to remain the beacon for a better life for those willing to get here. It will be complicated, it will be troublesome, but I, as a 60-something man today, want my generation to be known for doing the right thing.

Maybe even the great thing.

T.J. Clemente is a Patch columnist.