Giuseppe Garibaldi, Hero of Two Worlds
As Joseph Campbell said, “a hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” I can think of no greater example of a hero than Giuseppe Garibaldi. He was a man who combined the personal magnetism of George Washington, the convictions of Abraham Lincoln, and the swashbuckling joie de vivre of Errol Flynn.
Italian Americans & The Confederacy
Last week as I watched the Confederate flag paraded through the Capitol, I was reminded of a conversation I recently had with another Italian American who defended flying the Confederate flag. His position was that he lived in a former Confederate state where many of his neighbors who flew the Stars and Bars were good people who see it as part of their heritage. As I told him, I had little doubt about the goodness of the people.