The geographic proximity and the connection to Immaculata add to the resonance, as does Amtrak's continuing disregard for these men, but the real tie is that this is typical of the story of the Irish in America.
We came over and we took horrible jobs and we were hated for being here, being different. We shrugged it off, took it, because we had no choice. We made America and we made America our home.
This is part of why I hate the "everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day" nonsense. If you're not then you're not and if you are but you don't know your history then you're also not.
The story of the Irish is the story of every other immigrant group, through to today's Mediterranean refugees, risking their lives to stay alive and find life elsewhere, in a strange and often hostile land. When you visit Ellis Island, you realize that immigrants sold all of their property to buy passage to this country so if they were deported, they went back to NOTHING. No family, no land, no home. Further, they couldn't Google America to get a sense of what awaited them. They sold everything and risked everything for a dream and a hope and a belief.
Do we even have that kind of courage now? I don't see it amid the inane squabbling. It's in our collective DNA, in the heritage of this country, but I don't see it.
Anyway, here's a link to the 2010 story about Duffy's Cut:
http://www.mainlinetoday.com/Main-Line-Today/May-2010/Lost-and-Found/
We came over and we took horrible jobs and we were hated for being here, being different. We shrugged it off, took it, because we had no choice. We made America and we made America our home.
This is part of why I hate the "everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's Day" nonsense. If you're not then you're not and if you are but you don't know your history then you're also not.
The story of the Irish is the story of every other immigrant group, through to today's Mediterranean refugees, risking their lives to stay alive and find life elsewhere, in a strange and often hostile land. When you visit Ellis Island, you realize that immigrants sold all of their property to buy passage to this country so if they were deported, they went back to NOTHING. No family, no land, no home. Further, they couldn't Google America to get a sense of what awaited them. They sold everything and risked everything for a dream and a hope and a belief.
Do we even have that kind of courage now? I don't see it amid the inane squabbling. It's in our collective DNA, in the heritage of this country, but I don't see it.
Anyway, here's a link to the 2010 story about Duffy's Cut:
http://www.mainlinetoday.com/Main-Line-Today/May-2010/Lost-and-Found/
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