THE FIRST FIVE AMERICAN YEARS

Five years ago, following a powerful snow storm, as rarely can be seen anymore, a Norwegian red and white painted plane landed on JFK International Airport and among the passengers disembarking on American ground here I was, a little hazy, but carefully focused on the signs directing the passengers of the one of the busiest airport terminals in the world, ready to proceed for a beautiful adventure. The reason I have been there, dragging a few heavy and bulky luggages, was the most beautiful and amazing human in the world, the soon to be my wife Gina.

The so much feared immigration officers were diligently (this is just to not say indifferently) walking me through the admission process on the “overprotected” land, and much earlier than I thought it would be, I encountered the diamonds shining eyes and the widest and sincerest smile on the planet.

Five years might sound like a lot, but now while writing on this page, they appear to have gone too fast. Still, while trying to enumerate all the events that followed, it might feel like a whole era.

In just five years, I was welcomed by the Obama administration, confirmed as a permanent resident by the Trump administration, and now I am pending for citizenship  under the Biden administration. Three political groups in charge and so many historical events, the unusual and shamelessly leadership style of a unique  by now former  president, the pandemic that happened in the last year and still calling its victims and a world that seems to be going in an unspecific direction, but with hopes for a going back to normal, though a normal that is nowhere to be found.

In just five years, I learned that to thrive in the American society takes effort but the opportunities are all over, waiting for you. I have learned that it’s really an environment where one only can rely on themself. I have seen how the big corporations are taking more and more control on the world and how they try to keep you dependent on their benefits. I have seen that they don’t allow you too much time to be yourself, to be creative, to enjoy life. Or if they do so, it is by very small measures. I also learned that if one really is committed on a purpose, that same apparently “evil” corporations will give sufficient rewards to fulfill your life purposes. I have seen that the inventivity, the ingenuity and the immense courage of those few corporate owners can lead to great accomplishments, from monopolizing trade to control online behaviour and up to literally reaching the stars. There is a price for this upgoing process. It is the sacrifice of the individual, whose personal entrepreneurship can only exist in the gargantuan corporate systems. Entire sectors, from education to healthcare, are subdued to the general purpose and most unlikely to individual cause.

In just five years, I discovered that to survive without losing yourself, you have to become a new type of hunter-gatherer, one that “hunts”and “gathers” on the outskirts of the modern civilization while camouflaging themself inside that same habitat where all the naive followers of norms dwell. To be that might seem a distant dream but there are foundations on which to start adding the bricks of intent.

In just five years, I learned that real love, true passion and genuine dedication for the person next to you can defeat everything, and I am confidently reiterating it, EVERYTHING. You can go over social limitations, over emotional stresses and even physical illnesses. 

In just five years, I, somehow, started a new life, on a new land, on a new continent, on a new society but more than that I have learned that no matter where you are, if you are together with your soulmate, there is no limit to your dreams.