United We Stand - Anthony Socci - Bog

"Beyond their worthiness and to be selfish, the recording and preservation of the Italian American history and experience in Stamford is important to all of us. History can give us not only a sense of belonging to a given political, social, and geographical area, but a sense of shared human achievement. Everyone makes some kind of a contribution, either negative or positive, to the progress of civilization that, taken collectively, has meaning. Without recording this local history, it is very likely that this meaning would become lost. If we do not document and save it for the future, no one else will or worse someone could alter it to serve their own purposes. Often, we do not realize the important impact that this documentation has until it is too late. I will not let this happen. Italian Americans have now gotten to a point where their cultural differences are much more widely accepted (for instance pizza is one of the most favorite foods not only in the U.S. but the world) and have become so assimilated that we are more worried about retaining our ethnicity and customs. Documentation is key here as well."-from "The Prologue"