My son asked me to write a blog. Why do we need another blog? I asked and he answered: “so we can communicate about ideas and for you, to also write your memories to share with us”.

…And so it got into my 2022 goals list. Five month later June 2nd I’m writing my first blog. Earlier that morning I talked with Itamar over the phone and asked him: What topic should I write first? He said: I’m interested in “why immigration is important”.

OK, this can be the first topic I replied and then my thoughts started going in all different directions with the main question in mind again and again: what are the benefits of writing a blog? What do I know about that topic? Who am I to write about it? Who cares? Should I write in English or Hebrew? One of us will always need language support crutches. Should I make it easier on him? Perhaps I write in Hebrew and will reply in English?

My mind kept going: “When you write, expect receiving hate. You know what’s going on out there… You expose yourself, expect being vulnerable, a punching bag… criticized…” Do I really want all this?

And then: “this is your first blog, are you built to start a marathon of a weekly/ monthly blog? Would you keep up with that? Do you have the stamina?”

For every question I could have found the easy answer to tell myself: “Stop right here, go no further!” But instead, for every question, I found a million reasons why I should say: YES!

Why YES?

NO, is not an option

I like to challenge myself Get out of my comfort zone

It is fun, and we have the right to express and examine our thoughts It is a way to communicate with my son

It is a way, hopefully, to communicate with others It is a way to learn from others

It is a way to learn, how to listen and accept other point of views It is a way to accept the different with respect

It is a way to learn to tolerate and conduct an open minded dialog

It is a way to challenge my mind It is a way to stay young in mind

It is a way for me to share my life story and experiences with the world

It is a way for me to learn and accept myself as an immigrant with an accent and imperfect language skills

It is a way for me to learn to love myself

It is my way to say: I’m almost 59 years old: I’m here to listen, learn, communicate, respect, accept, exchange ideas, share my thoughts and have a wonderful conversation with my son (Itamar), and hopefully with you as well.

The only rule here: Listen first, Respect, think, answer to the point.