I too am an immigrant.

Confidence doesn’t always arrive with a bold entrance. Sometimes, it builds quietly, step by step, as we show up for ourselves day after day. It grows when we choose to try, even when we’re unsure of the outcome. Every time you take action despite self-doubt, you reinforce the belief that you’re capable. Confidence isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about trusting that you can figure it out along the way.

The key to making things happen isn’t waiting for the perfect moment; it’s starting with what you have, where you are. Big goals can feel overwhelming when viewed all at once, but momentum builds through small, consistent action. Whether you’re working toward a personal milestone or a professional dream, progress comes from showing up — not perfectly, but persistently. Action creates clarity, and over time, those steps forward add up to something real.

You don’t need to be fearless to reach your goals, you just need to be willing. Willing to try, willing to learn, and willing to believe that you’re capable of more than you know. The road may not always be smooth, but growth rarely is. What matters most is that you keep going, keep learning, and keep believing in the version of yourself you’re becoming.

My Mother on the left with her mother and sister Shortly after their arrival in Mexico.

My 11 year old brain tried to grasp my mother’s rational explanations for our move, but my 11 year old heart was broken. I didn’t want to leave my family and friends in Mexico, I didn’t want to leave my place of birth, and so this young heart of mine dragged for a long long time. My mother and I cried and cried as we said our goodbyes, she didn’t want to leave her mother and brother, and I didn’t want to leave my grandma and uncle

More deeply, at a cellular level, I needed for our family to be reunited. I needed to be with my father and 2 brothers, who 6 months earlier had made the drive from Mexico to Los Angeles. For them it was not an issue getting into the USA since they three, had been born in New York.

I had always heard my dad, a second generation American, and the grandson of Russian immigrants, say that the United States was the greatest country on earth. After a long time and as I matured, I grew to believe that this was the great country my father boasted of, with its Constitutional guarantee of “life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” and with its system of “Checks and Balances” with it’s Statue of Liberty proudly standing at New York Harbor as the hope of the world.

My mother and me at Santa Monica Beach shortly after our arrival in Los Angeles.

Having been born in Mexico, at the age of 18, I had to choose and declare citizenship, and I applied to become a naturalized American citizen. I sat in an immigration office with my father where both he and I were grilled with many questions, had he ever or was he now a member of the Communist Party, would I bear arms in the defense of the United States of America.

With time, after many years and tears I adjusted to life in this great country, but I had been, and to this day, remain deeply marked by the move north.

Today, my much older brain understands and is convinced that people don’t leave their homes voluntarily. Why would they? It’s what they know and what they love. Why would they put themselves and their children at peril by undergoing a merciless journey through harsh often life threatening conditions and terrain, to arrive at a country whose language they don’t speak, whose food is not appealing to face bigotry and hatred, unless they are desperate and under duress to search for survival, freedom and a better life for themselves and/or their families.

I’ve heard an expression in reference to old houses, referring to them as having good bones. Our country, The United States of America is that old house that has good bones. Let’s be inspired by the ideals that this country was founded upon, to resurrect this old house into that “shining city on the hill” where countless, have taken refuge, and have contributed to making this the greatest land on the face of the earth.

Let’s work together to bring back dignity, character, kindness, honesty, and empathy, to become that shining beacon of hope once again. We can accomplish all of this and remain within and support “the rule of law,” while fighting indifference, a lack of compassion, and while being indignant at the normalization of cruelty.