The New Colossus: A Tribute to My Ma & My Maternal Grandparents

I have been asked by referral sources, “Dr. Bob, what kind of cases should I send to you?” At The Center, we take pride in helping to resolve cases of trauma & tragedy. Please give us the opportunity to facilitate a victim becoming a survivor. In that scenario, does it matter which “side” you’re on? 

In 1883, Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet that is inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. “The New Colossus” equates the American experiment with hospitality, diversity & inclusion. These humanitarian values welcomed my mother’s family from their homeland of Italia. My great grandparents settled in Chicago, where my Ma’s grandfather died in an industrial accident while building the Lagoon in Lincoln Park on the north shore along Lake Michigan. Guess what his family got? Deported.

Some years later, my Ma immigrated with her parents to Chicago from Castel de Sangro (Castle of Blood). Emilia was 6 or 8 years old, as she tended to lie about her age throughout her lifetime. Exposure to mustard gas in WWI caught up to her dad, so he could no longer work as a butcher. As the eldest child in her family, Em went to work, six days a week in a factory. She was fourteen. She never went to high school. Both of her sons finished graduate school.

I believe it’s fair to say that we treat workers sent to our offices with respect & decency. While cops, firefighters & other first responders deal with critical incidents that can lead to psychiatric consultation, janitors, truckdrivers & nurses are welcome at The Center, as well. Dr. Bob grew up a working-class kid & became a working man’s shrink. (That includes women.) We’re on the side of the seriously injured. We also assist employers with sensible solutions to real problems.

From “The New Colossus:” “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,…”

(The welcoming nature of America’s colossus is in contrast to the Colossus of Rhodes which glorified the people of ancient Rhodes, who successfully staved off foreign invaders.)