TarmacThis is one of a thousand stories dealing with the transition from innocence to a maturity stage where unforeseen events forced this change to occur sooner and faster than expected. The death of a father forcing an older brother to become the strong figure in a family, the absence of both parents often causes the same circumstances. In my case it was a sudden change in government brought by a revolution and followed by family separation in exile at an early age. I have often heard so many similar stories from older Jewish friends about the fragmentation of families during the Nazi era. The name changes to save a life, the denials of ethnicity and religion in order to survive. The quest for God's given freedom does not know ethnic background or frontiers. My story is no different from those who have risked everything to live in a free society. We often associate these stories with Nazi Germany, Communist China or the old Soviet Union. It's hard to conceive, yet a reality that the same circumstances could happen just ninety miles from our shores in a country that was always ( and I believe still is) traditionally and culturally strongly linked to the United States. I write this book with dual purpose. One is to pour my heart out and leave a written legacy on my experience to my children. As much as a father tries to explain verbally, time tends to erase the memories. The second purpose is to serve as an inspiration to all those who today seek freedom. Every human being should have freedom to worship, freedom to speak their minds and express their opinions, freedom to travel, freedom to prosper in abundance and decide who their elected leaders will be through free elections. These freedoms still do no exist in Cuba today. In spite of some recent cosmetic changes and Castro's mummified state, his younger brother is still preaching the same lies designed to create an illusion of change. After more than fifty years of totalitarian government, the Castro brothers along with their puppets in Venezuela and Panama still rule like old dinosaurs from a bygone era. |