Thursday, December 20th, 2012 I went to the  honorable Llinet Beltré-Rosado induction ceremony to witness her become a judge of the Civil Court of the City of New York.

I am glad I went for a number of reasons.

First of all, I really wanted to go for self-inspiration. When you get around people who are following their dreams and are succeeding, it makes you want to succeed.

Next, I wanted to hear her testimony. It’s something about listening to strong people testimonies that helps you become stronger.

I am happy she invited me to support her but I felt I wasn’t doing much considering her friendship and kindness to my family and my community, which means so much more to me.

I learned a lot about her that I didn’t know before, like, in her ‘free’ time, she volunteers for the community as a member of Community Board 4. In the words of our Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz Jr., the community board is partly responsible for the decreasing of  gun violence (we currently have the lowest gun violence since 1966) and work to create a more family knit community within the Bronx.

I knew a little of her family’s success story. For example, I knew of how her mom was a single parent from Dominican Republic and raised her daughters in the projects where they all rose to greatness. One is employed by Columbia University and the other is an artist. I only knew of them but got to meet them and actually hear them speak. Even though I do not understand Spanish, when one of her sisters, Casilda, made reference to the Trujillo era, I felt the revolutionary spirit inside the court room! If she spoke a little longer, tears probably would have been shed.

One last reason I wanted to attend is when you are young and your journey is being created; it is important to listen to how others made it to their destination you never know if you would have to take a similar step.

Moreover, I think God wanted me to be there;  for when it came time for her to be sworn in as a judge, there was no Bible in the court room! She got sworn in on my tiny Bible.