Quest for Freedom

 

The quest for freedom and a better life.   It is hard to imagine what the living conditions were to cause these people to chance making an ocean voyage on an overloaded raft such as this.   They are all brave individuals, each and every one.   It saddens me to think of the ones who don't make it on their ocean voyage from Cuba to Florida but drown.  

I recently visited a recreation center her in Orlando called the Marks Street Senior Recreation Center.

The building has such a grand entrance.

I like to collect stamps and there was a stamp show being held there.   Just before leaving I walked around a bit.   That was when I saw this plaque dedicated to Tugboat March 13 Day.  

I wanted to find out more and so I went home and did a search of the internet.   The "March 13" was the name of the tugboat.   It's actual name is "13 de Marzo".    Just briefly a group of Cubans attempted to come to the United States and freedom on a tugboat but were intercepted by Cuba and sunk.   Many people lost their lives and this plaque serves as a reminder lest we should forget.   An internet search fo Tugboat massacre, Tugboat March 13, Tugboat 13 de Marzo, and Tugboat Day will give the whole story.   On the plaque there is a list of names of those that perished.

Names.   Just a series of names on a plaque.   What hits home is when you can see the names of the people on the plaque.   That makes it all so much more real.

The spellings of the names vary slightly between what is on the pictures and what is on the plaque.   I wonder what their aspirations were, their dreams, their goals.   There are pictures of many more of the individuals on the internet and I recommend reading the story of this terrible tragedy at one of the many internet sites.   I count myself lucky that I have been born and raised here in this country.   Have a good day and county your blessings.    Lew