I feel like this book should be required reading for people of color. Or women. Or, really, everyone. It’s a story of finding yourself, of love, and loss, and politics. Chock full of wisdom, Michelle Obama is able to tell her life’s story in words that brought me to tears numerous times.
I grew up in a town about fifteen minutes from the U.S. border with Mexico, about thirty minutes outside the town of Reynosa. While I am not Hispanic, I was lucky enough to go to a magnet program to get an International Baccalaureate degree. Our campus, what used to be a middle school, was split into two halves: the IB kids (my side), and the Options kids. Options was a program for students who needed options: girls who were pregnant, people who were migrant farm workers, those who needed to take a class in 10 weeks instead of the standard 6. I saw my fair share of people who needed a leg up, who needed to be told they were good enough. I hope that those students are able to read Michelle Obama’s work and know that they are, and will always be good enough.
Can you tell that her question “Am I good enough?” was, to me, the most poignant part of her story? Honestly, what little girl doesn’t think that at some point? I must have asked myself that question a hundred, a thousand, a million times while I was growing up. Am I good enough? Do these people like me for me? Can I accomplish what I set my mind to? Even if you are surrounded by wonderful cheerleaders, like my parents, like Michelle’s parents, there is still too much room for doubt. Michelle Obama made it her goal, along with Barack, to help prove to children from under served communities learn that they can accomplish whatever they want to.
I am looking forward to re-reading this in five or ten years, and seeing if the message still holds true (I bet it does). It shows so many wonderful life lessons about what an education can do, and what confidence in yourself can do. In short, read it, and give it to others so that Michelle can inspire them as well.
SJP Books 