As some of you know, I was born in Ukraine when it was still the Soviet Union, in the Western city of Lviv where most of the reporters are broadcasting from, and where most of the embassies have moved their operations.
My parents grew up there and started their careers there.
My grandmother, who is 95 years old and lives in her own apartment in downtown Chicago, spent more than half of her life, and her entire work life as a pharmacist there.
Many of you have written expressing your concern and support, and I have appreciated hearing from each of you.
We have no family left there, but my parents have more than a few friends and acquaintances who remain.
The news and the footage of the last 12 days is heartbreaking to us.
Yesterday I was having a cigar with my dad, and he said “When I watch the news and see the pictures, I want to cry.”
During the last two Covid years, my wife Lisa and I often talked about taking the kids to Ukraine when the pandemic starts to wind down. I want my parents to show them the country. We hope there is a country left to show.
I am proud of the strength and perseverance being shown by the people there.
And I am so proud that my dad took the unbelievable risk of coming to America in 1978 when he and my mom were 26 years old — without any money, connections, or family or friends here. We literally came with nothing.
And America gave us everything.
I am immensely grateful to be here now because I could be there.
And I am always aware that when we struggle in America, we get to struggle here.
It is a privilege to overcome challenges in this country, where, unlike in many parts of the world, sustained effort and perseverance create progress and improvement almost always.
I thank my lucky stars every day that I was brought here by my brave family.
Never more so than in the last two weeks.
My parents and I have dinner (and just a bit to drink) on a square in Lviv, Ukraine, in 2013. This is the only time I’ve ever been back. I hope to be there again, with my parents and Lisa, Noah and Bella.