My father left his beloved Sicily because of the effects of World War II. He arrived in the United States unable to speak the language or even understand the American way of life. 
Of course, like many immigrants, he was indeed a fast study. He did very well in school and became a proud American citizen.
Growing up in a Sicilian family was exciting to say the least. A normal conversation often entailed raised voices (in effect, yelling), multiple hand gestures and a large dose of Sicilian emotion. Sicilians also stick to their word – La parole é sagra (the word is blood). My fatherendured many hardships and challenges in his journey from Siciliy, but always showed great determination to provide for his family. He had an indomitablewill to succeed.
And everyone knows when a Sicilian says you are “family,” the word takes on a totally new definition.
To a Sicilian, “family” means being accepted for who you are! To be trusted, to become “blood!” At times, it means to share “blood” but that is a story for another day. In a Sicilian family, you are included in everything – the good and the bad.
An invitation to attend a family event (wedding, baptism, birthday, etc.) really means it is a “command” to attend. Of course, Sunday dinners are indeed a must.
Today is the era of the modern family. Thus, family members no longer live in the same neighborhood, or attend the same church. Family members live all over the country and in some instances live all over the globe. This, of course, changes the dynamics of staying connected.
In the past, sitting around the dinner table as a child listening to the various generations of Sicilians share their life stories was a special learning experience. The conversations were filled with love, passion, emotion, tears and at times anger, but what a wonderful and colorful experience it was. It impacted my character.
I learned the art of persuasion from my Sicilian family. They taught me that persuasion is an emotion and did they ever show emotion when they debated an issue! At their connected dinners, I learned self-confidence, unwarranted optimism and incurable idealism that most people are good and by dreaming we all can accomplish more.
Sicilians love to challenge issues and each other! Often times, they can appear unreasonable.
In the words of George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” This defines some of my relatives.
I learned the power of words. Death and life are in the power of the tongue – that is Sicilian. This leads me to the art, and perhaps the science, of staying connected in today’s world, both on aprofessional and personal basis.
Emails, texts, tweets and Skype are fast and useful ways to stay connected in today’s warp-speed world. Sending communications via an email is instant and time-efficient. The same can be said for texting and tweeting. Utilizing Skype affords us the opportunity to see the people we are talking with and to say goodnight to our children when we are out of town. How cool is that?
The battle to keep up with current technology and at the same time anticipate what lies ahead in the area of connectivity weighs heavy on all of us.
The question I would pose is: Are we really connected today? Can a well-written email take the place of a live, spirited conversation? Does the family dinner today consist of each family member looking at their smartphone during the meal? Can we emote our true feelings via technology? Can we teach and mentor the next generation without being in their presence? Are meaningful relationships built through smartphones, etc.? I am sure the answer is yes in some cases!
The connectivity climate today is B2B and B2C. It is time in my opinion to revisit H2H! That means human-to-human.
The future may have washing machines and coffee pots that talk to us. However, Internet communications are physically isolated and do not satisfy our need and hunger for face-to-face contact.
The richness of life takes place around the kitchen table, in our family rooms, next to the water cooler and at family gatherings. To me, that’s what it means to be “connected!”
