Brimming with Pride this July 4th

This Independence Day feels especially meaningful.

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, we are also helping host the World Cup with Canada and Mexico — welcoming fans from around the globe and putting the beautiful game on one of the world’s biggest stages.

For me, the timing is personal. This year also marks 50 years since I became a U.S. citizen.

My parents immigrated from Egypt in the early 1970s, shortly after I was born. Like so many immigrants, they left behind extended family, friends, and the comfort of familiar communities to build a new life in the United States.

They were both highly educated physicians, but the transition was not easy. Foreign-trained doctors often had to restart their professional training, regardless of prior experience. My father and mother gave up their original specialties and began again in internal medicine, while raising a young family on modest resident salaries.

They also faced the everyday challenges of adapting to a new culture — from idioms and small talk to professional expectations and, at times, the sting of being treated differently because of foreign accents.

But they kept going.

Over time, they built meaningful careers, contributed to their communities, and gave my sister and me the benefit of excellent schools, stability, and opportunity.

In June 1976, during America’s Bicentennial year, my parents became U.S. citizens. By extension, I became a citizen too. I still remember watching fireworks over Manhattan that summer. It remains one of my clearest childhood memories.

I share this story not because it is extraordinary, but because it is familiar. America is full of stories like this — families who left something behind so the next generation could move forward.

This July 4th, as we gather with friends, watch fireworks, and enjoy a summer of world-class soccer, I am especially grateful for my parents, for their sacrifice, and for the country that became our home.

Happy Independence Day.