The Storm

harsh, East Coast winters. All of this palled in comparison to the horrors of war they had endured in their beloved homelands that they had left. Stories abounded of parents escaping the devastation of the world wars and being processed at Ellis Island with very little money and living out of their suitcases. Many were established professional people in their own countries, but lost everything during the early wars and famines, such as the “Potato Wars” in Ireland. Some families were separated when some family members did not get past processing and were sent back home because of some sickness, or criminal record, or improper papers. It was just the way it was in those days. Everyone knew the rules, but it still did not make it any easier. Can you imagine having to turn around and go back across the wide Atlantic in some old rusty ship and return to where you had just left, separating from family and friends? Some had to work on-board, even in their sickness, just to pay for the return trip fare. What would you go back to? How sad! Many of those that did get processed through Ellis Island started businesses right here in Brooklyn with what little money they had, or through borrowed money from hard money lenders, and occasionally bookies and Mafioso bosses, that charged impossible interest rates. They were all true survivors, and that toughness and passion is what, In my opinion, makes them great. They settled their differences, got work, built businesses on a shoestring, paid off the loan sharks, and put their kids through college and brought them back into the family business. In my book, they are hero’s , every one of them! Anytime I get to whining about my lot in life, I just have

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