On September 3, 2026, I attended a gala for the Assyrian community at Lamassu Palace Banquets in the Chicago area. Omni Dental donated to the Assyriska FF “Greater Than Football” initiative, and I was announced as an ambassador. The evening reinforced that culture survives only when every generation keeps participating in it.
Key Takeaways
- Cultural identity requires active participation from every generation, not passive inheritance from parents alone.
- Community is built through thousands of individual relationships and everyday choices to show up and help.
- Professional success and cultural pride are not mutually exclusive; they strengthen each other.
- Mentoring, connecting people, and supporting community organizations are forms of giving back that matter profoundly.
Read time: 8 min
By Dr. Bilus Poles, Omni Dental of Arlington Heights
The evening was described as “A Momentous Gala,” and it brought together people who care about the future of the Assyrian community. People who have carried our traditions for decades stood alongside younger Assyrians who will ultimately decide how those traditions continue.
Walking Into a Room Filled With Assyrian Pride
One of the first things that struck me was the atmosphere. You could feel the pride in the room, not an exaggerated or superficial kind of pride, but something much more personal. People were there because they cared about the Assyrian people’s future.
I found myself having conversations with people from different backgrounds and generations.
What people were discussing:
- The importance of keeping our community connected
- Giving younger Assyrians something meaningful to participate in
- How to preserve culture while allowing each generation to make it their own
- Creating opportunities for professional growth within our community
- Bridging the gap between those living far from ancestral homeland and cultural roots
Those conversations made me think about my own profession. Every day at Omni Dental, I meet families from throughout Arlington Heights and the greater Chicago area. Sometimes I see several generations from the same family. You begin treating someone, and eventually you meet their spouse, children, parents, or grandparents.
Over time, you realize how much knowledge and identity pass quietly from one generation to another. Culture works the same way. It doesn’t survive simply because we say that it is important. It survives because people keep participating in it.
Understanding Cultural Identity in Modern America
As an Assyrian, I understand how easy it can be for a community living far from its ancestral homeland to slowly lose pieces of its identity.
The reality many immigrant communities face:
- Build successful careers
- Raise families in a new country
- Open businesses and become part of American life
- Gradually lose connection to cultural traditions
- Watch younger generations adopt new identities
We should be proud of that success. But at the same time, remembering the culture, history, and community that helped shape who we are matters. That evening reminded me of both.
Culture doesn’t survive because we say it’s important.
It survives because people keep participating in it. That’s the choice every generation makes.
A Conversation About the Next Generation
At one point during the evening, I remember looking around the room and thinking about the younger generation. Many Assyrian families came to the United States because they wanted their children to have opportunities that previous generations never had.
Today, we see Assyrians becoming doctors, dentists, attorneys, entrepreneurs, educators, artists, athletes, and professionals in nearly every field. That is something worth celebrating.
But success also creates a new challenge: How do we make sure that a young Assyrian growing up in Chicago, Los Angeles, Sydney, Stockholm, or anywhere else in the world still feels connected to being Assyrian?
The answer is not obligation, it’s opportunity.
- We cannot expect young people to connect with their heritage just because we tell them to
- We have to give them reasons to participate
- We need organizations, cultural programs, community gatherings, sports, mentorship, professional networks
- Being Assyrian cannot only be something they hear about from their parents
- It must become something they experience themselves
That idea came up repeatedly in conversations throughout the evening, and it stayed with me afterward.
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Why “Greater Than Football” Captured My Attention
During the event, I also had the opportunity to learn more about the vision represented by Assyriska FF and the phrase displayed prominently: “Greater Than Football.”
Above those words were three other phrases:
| Phrase | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Hope of a People | Giving younger generations something to believe in and work toward |
| Keeper of Identity | Preserving culture and traditions while creating space for modern expression |
| Voice of a Nation | Speaking for people and advocating for community interests globally |
That message caught my attention. Football may be the vehicle, but the larger idea is community. Sport is one of the few things that can bring together people who may otherwise have very different lives. Children can participate. Parents become involved. Friendships develop. People travel together, celebrate together, and begin identifying with something larger than themselves.
For a community spread across many countries, those connections matter.
Standing there, I understood “Greater Than Football” not simply as a slogan about a sports organization, but as an expression of what can happen when we use something people already love to strengthen identity and community.
Community is built through participation, not proclamation.
When we give people something they love to participate in, identity and pride naturally follow.
What It Means to Be Part of a Community
That evening, Omni Dental was proud to donate in support of the cause, and I was honored to be announced as an ambassador for the initiative. I appreciated the recognition, but what mattered more to me was what it represented: being part of a community means participating in it.
Why giving back matters:
- I have been fortunate in my professional life
- Dentistry has given me the opportunity to build relationships with thousands of families over the years
- When you have been given opportunities, you should ask what you can give back
- That contribution doesn’t always have to be financial
Different ways to give back:
- Your time and presence
- Mentoring someone younger
- Introducing two people who can help each other
- Supporting an organization
- Simply showing up
The Real Community Building Happens Between the Formal Moments
Some of my favorite parts of the evening actually happened between the scheduled portions of the gala. They were the small conversations. Someone sharing a memory. Someone introducing me to another guest. People discussing what they were working on. A photograph together. A handshake that became a ten-minute conversation.
These moments rarely appear in an event program, but they are often where community is actually built.
What I learned from those informal moments:
- Organizations and institutions are important, but relationships give those institutions life
- A strong community cannot be created by one organization, one leader, one business, or one generation
- It requires thousands of individual relationships
- It requires people willing to ask: “How can I help?”
- Every conversation, introduction, and small act of connection matters
That is what stayed with me long after the evening ended.
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Preserving History While Building the Future
Like many ancient communities, Assyrians carry an extraordinary history. But history by itself cannot guarantee a future. Every generation has to make a decision, consciously or unconsciously, about how much of that identity it will carry forward.
That doesn’t mean younger Assyrians need to live exactly as their grandparents did. Every generation will create its own version of what it means to be Assyrian. I think that is healthy.
The goal should be:
- NOT to freeze our culture in time
- Instead, give the next generation a strong enough foundation that they can carry it forward in their own way
- Preserve our stories and traditions
- Build modern institutions and create opportunities relevant to young people today
- Allow each generation to express their identity authentically
That was one of the strongest messages I took from the September 3 gathering.
We are the community.
Every family teaching its children about heritage, every young person getting involved, every professional mentoring someone, we are all determining what our community will look like twenty or thirty years from now.
A Greater Sense of Responsibility
When the evening ended, and I was preparing to leave, I thought about something simple: we often talk about “the community” as though it is something separate from us. But we are the community.
Who makes up the community:
- Every family that teaches its children about their heritage
- Every young person who becomes involved
- Every organization creating opportunities
- Every professional who mentors someone
- Every person who attends an event, supports a cause, volunteers, contributes an idea
- Every person who introduces someone to the community
All of these people are helping determine what the Assyrian community will look like in the future. That is why evenings like this matter. The September 3 gala gave us an opportunity to celebrate, but it also gave us an opportunity to think about what comes next.
What I Left With
I left grateful for the conversations, the hospitality, and the people I met.
More importantly, I left encouraged by the number of people who clearly care about preserving Assyrian identity while building something meaningful for the next generation.
Our history gives us something extraordinary to remember. What we build together will determine what future generations have to remember about us.
That responsibility is both daunting and inspiring. It’s a responsibility we all share.
Being part of a community is a choice we make every day.
Whether through our work at Omni Dental, supporting cultural organizations, mentoring young people, or simply showing up, each of us contributes to what our community becomes.
A Final Thought
If you are part of a community, whether Assyrian, Armenian, Greek, Arab, American, or any cultural identity, I encourage you to think about what that means to you.
What traditions matter? What stories do you want to preserve? How can you help the next generation feel connected to their heritage? How can you participate in building something greater than yourself?
That is what I thought about during the drive home from that gala. And it’s what I continue to think about as I work to be a good steward of my profession, my community, and my heritage.
Our history is extraordinary. Our responsibility is to make sure that future generations have a future worth remembering.
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Dr. Bilus Poles is a practicing periodontist and founder of Omni Dental in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Beyond his clinical practice, he is passionate about community involvement, mentoring young professionals, and supporting cultural organizations that strengthen identity and belonging. Learn more about Dr. Bilus.
About the author
Dr. Bilus D PolesDDS,MAGD,DICOI, DIDIA
Founder and lead dentist of Omni Dental of Arlington Heights. Master of the Academy of General Dentistry and Board Certified Diplomate of the ICOI and IDIA. Illinois license #019.027365.
