Heritage Remembered as Foreign Flags Flutter

Unique among this peninsula’s 16 municipalities is North Wildwood. Why? It is the only place that went to the expense of erecting flagpoles upon which are flown flags of many nations. In a manner of speaking, everybody can feel good when they look up and see the flag of the nation either they or their forebears left when seeking a better place for themselves and their posterity.
Crowds are generally thin on Greek Independence Day, March 25, when joyous Greek Americans, many of them members of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Anglesea, remember the struggle their ancestors faced to be free. Though few in number, there is pride on every face when the raising of the blue-and-white national emblem of Greece takes place. It’s a ceremony that may touch many hearts.
Why is that, even if you are not Greek? Think of your own great-great grandparents leaving what once was home to cross some great watery expanse, regardless of which one, to set up a new life on these shores. Put yourself in their place and imagine the thoughts they must have pondered, the fears they likely had on thinking about a strange place where they would be aliens, but where the streets, they were told, were paved with gold. I heard of one person’s immigrant ancestor who, on reaching New York City after being cleared from Ellis Island, wept when she saw Manhattan’s filthy streets, and saw they were not paved in gold.
Greeks are not alone in reverence along Central Avenue. There have been other times when other nationalities celebrated their heritage on Central Avenue in front of the city’s recreation center. Norway and Taiwan seem to be among the league of one-time flag flyers.
North Wildwood has named itself the Parade Capital of New Jersey, since it hosts more parades than the IRS hosts tax loopholes. Everyone, it seems, gets a day of fame in that city by the sea. This weekend, it will be those of Irish heritage who will flock to the city for its ceremony and parade.
That event, marking St. Patrick’s Day, (March 17) will take place on the grounds of City Hall, Atlantic Avenue at Ninth Avenue. At that time another ethnic celebration will be held starting at 11:30 a.m. Primary in the ceremony will be the hoisting of the Irish flag. To be certain, there will be much heraldry surrounding that annual solemnity.
Most puzzling to the ears of non-Irish folk will be the singing, in Gaelic (Amhrán na bhFiann or “The Soldier’s Song”), of the Irish National Anthem. It’s one of those familial rites passed from generation to generation. Those of us not of Irish descent, who never learned the words or intonations from an ancient grandma or great uncle, listen in amazement as the masses join to sing words that, to some, will bring tears.
National anthems have a way of doing that. We think of the struggles our forebears encountered, how they were beaten and imprisoned, chained or even killed for what they believed was right. They endured so that we might enjoy what we have become.
Our own national anthem, sung at various sporting events in the most contorted manner, is better spoken than sung. Lovely as it may be, it’s a killer to sing, even though we’ve learned it from childhood. I’ll give high marks to our good neighbor to the north, Canada, for producing a national anthem that is easy to sing and play.
“O Canada!” has been heard in our nation mostly by hockey fans, since many of the skilled skaters who whack the puck are from those frozen provinces north of Minnesota, Maine, and Montana. At 10 lines in length, “O Canada!” doesn’t take long to sing or play.
Beats there a heart so dead that it would not stir at the words, “True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free!”
Regardless of one’s ethnic heritage, it is vital that it never be forgotten. Without roots we are nothing. Yes, this is America the melting pot, where blending is what made the nation strong. Still it is that special recipe handed down on yellowing paper, perhaps used annually at a special festive family dinner, maybe brought here in the luggage of a couple riding in steerage, that reminds us that we are proud to be of German or Polish of Dutch or Polynesian, Chinese, Korean, Saudi or Algerian stock.
North Wildwood gets high marks for revering the fact that each of us is special because of those who came here were united by a common goal. They wanted a better life for their children and beyond. They were willing to do the terrible manual tasks, clean the fish, peddle the fruit, sell the shoes, wash the dirty clothes or bear the brunt of harsh labor so their progeny would enjoy the fruits of freedom they could not experience in their former homeland.
To those whose ancestors had to choice in being brought to America, last month was a time to reflect on their suffering and take heart that change came, later then it should have, but came in time to offer them freedom and education and the opportunity their ancestors could never have imagined.
Those who have the means ought to take a ride past North Wildwood’s Recreation Center on Central Avenue. Look up at that aggregation of colorful flags that flutter in the breeze. Think what it meant to those who came here to enjoy what we often taken for granted. Surely what unites us is greater by far than the things that divide us.