* OUR IMMIGRANT HERO

We always talk about the pioneers of Perista with pride. We talk about those heroes from our tribe who went to the other side of the world and created new roots in the new world based on the valuable history, ideas, lore from the old one.

The decades come and go and our pioneers disappear in the edge of time following the final destination. For the new generations looks normal to forget those people who with their labor, pain, blood, sweat and tears to build in this great Greek American community. From the east cost to the west, from the far north to the even further south today Greek American communities flourish, other small and other bigger together with the Greek Orthodox communities or just a few families and they fight to keep alive anything that is Greek to them anything they remember from their grandparents and families.

For all of us the characterizing of a pioneer is an impersonal meaning, a respectable delineation of a heroic physiognomy with many fights and agonies on their record, with incredible successes but also with very painful failures. A pioneer has become a kind of self evident condition for our own existence here in America, one effective pedestal the has a strong and imperious base where we can put with confidence our tries and our dreams.

Today a pioneer does not have a face to us. For us a pioneer is a lore without bones and flesh. The older might remember and will remember for many years to come till our generation passes over to immortality, certain people and faces. Then, every time they will talk about pioneers maybe they will remember a little those faces but not for long.

Only a few things have been written about our Greek American history, mostly about the church in newspapers and organizations and not for particular persons. The church has been our leader, protector and the inspiration of omogenia, but a pioneer brought even our church here. Not the ecumenical patriarchy neither some other organization but a poor Greek Orthodox immigrant that left his country, his family and friends for a better life in America.

As soon as this pioneer was able to stand on his feet he prayed to God and then he send his money back to the old land to help his family. There is not much about this (these) pioneer(s) written anywhere but we do still follow his first steps and ideas. In every family we remember the pioneer, our pioneer and we have a picture of him on the wall somewhere in the house but this is not enough. This is no the way to write history and this is not the way to pay for our debt to honor and respect our first pioneers.

We need to collect our memories and do a systematic register of the names and their contributions to omogenia. Their contribution major or minor is a part of history of the United States of America which is a mix of different nationalities who together create this great country.

We the Hellenes of America must not let our history do be forgotten. It's on our hand to write and keep alive the history of our pioneers and ours.

Greece also owes a lot to our pioneers. They are all her children scattered here and there without any help and when they left for the other side of the world they never forgot even for one minute who they are and where they come from. In every need for help they were there to contribute their money and even their lives when that was necessary. Mother Greece maybe has forgotten or does not want to remember them but our pioneers never forgot their homeland and made sure that for generations to come their kids will be Hellenes like them.

Theodore Kaltsas /2000