The widespread gun violence in America is one reason towe left.
My family were refugees, leaving Europe in 1941 traveling through Germany, Vichy France and on to America via neutral Portugal. Their stories that I heard as a child and the lessons they taught me have never been forgotten. Truths like “it CAN happen here”, the need to always have portable wealth in case you need to flee on short notice, to always have a valid passport, that one can always start over again somewhere as long as you still live. And most importantly, to believe them when they tell you what they intend to do: it’s not hyperbole.
Grandmother listened to Hitler and Stalin and acted accordingly. As a result she and her children were able to make a new life in a new land. My Grandfather was skeptical and thought he could ride it out staying on their estate, instead he spent nearly four years in the Gulag at a Siberian labor camp, despite being a US citizen. He returned a broken man and never fully recovered.
I suppose they also called my family carpetbaggers too, I know their peers thought they were overreacting when she left with her children. But they all perished while she and her children survived. So I’ll never apologize for prioritizing safety and stability, or for erring on the side of caution.
