Becoming by Michelle Obama

                                             

An autobiography of Michelle  Obama , published by  Penguin Random House ( 426 pages;2018)  is  the story  of a woman  who rose from very humble beginnings  to become  the first lady of the USA, overcoming  all obstacles of  race , resources and gender.

                   I admire Michelle for each of her four initiatives which she took as the First lady---Let’s Move! , Reach Higher , Let Girls Learn , and  Joining Forces. Let’s Move! Was a public health campaign led by Michelle .Its aim was to reduce  childhood obesity and encourage a healthy lifestyle in children.The Reach Higher Initiative  was her effort as a first Lady to inspire  every student in the US to take charge of  her/his future by completing their education past high school, whether at a professional  training programme , a community college , or a four-year college or university.Let Girls Learn was  launched by Michelle Obama ,as  a  US government initiative  aimed at helping adolescent girls  attain a quality education  that empowers them to reach  their full potential.Joining Forces  was a nationwide initiative  by Michelle Obama  and Dr. Jill Biden  calling all Americans to rally around  service members, veterans , and their families  and support them through wellness, education and employment opportunities.

           Michelle  majored from Princeton in sociology and law  , pulling good grades. Her code in life is  to keep making  efforts     till you   get the  answer to the most important question. “Am I good enough? as “Yes, in fact  I am”.

She met Barack at a law firm Sidley and Austin.  Barack wanted to be effective far more than he wanted to be rich. They fell in love there. From Becoming me , came the stage of Becoming Us. Throughout the book, Michelle is full of praise and pride for Obama.”His money largely went towards books” . He often asked: “ Do we settle for the world  as it is ,  or do we work for the world as it should be?”When she was in Sidley and Austin ,she started keeping a journal. It was a habit she picked in part  from Barack ,  who viewed writing as therapeutic  and clarifying,  and had kept journals on and off over the years.    Barack and Michelle got married in October ,1992.

 Barack joined an organization  called Project VOTE!. “There was power in voting. If you wanted change, you couldn’t stay home on Election Day”. In 1993, he wrote and published  a book  “dreams from My Father”. She joined a new job as the executive director for the new Chicago chapter of an organization  called Public Allies. Its purpose was to help more people find their way into careers in public service and non-profit work.

Barack can flip  between the six and seven  books he’s reading simultaneously. He  would inhale books , newspapers  and ideas.  He had a serious faith in democracy. He wrote his second book “The Audacity of Hope” – thinking through his beliefs and his vision  for the country.He called for hope over cynicism. He spoke with hope. Both served on the boards of several nonprofits. Michelle did not have much taste for politics .She brought up their two daughters, Malia and  Sasha,  to grow strong  and also un-accommodating to any form of old-school patriarchy.

       In all , there were  a total of nine Democrats  for the election to President.  Barack  made his announcement on February 10, 2007.Voting took place on November4, 2008.Barack Hussein  Obama became the  forty-fourth president  of the United States (POTUS) and Michelle became the First Lady of the united States.(FOTUS).

        Michelle  is a great advocate of mentoring.”I knew from my own experience  that when some one  shows genuine interest in   your learning and development , even if only for  ten minutes in a busy day , it matters”. With this in mind , she started a leadership and mentoring program  at the White house  for girls. The students were nominated by their Principals. Each student was paired with a female mentor. Mentors  were  volunteers from the  staff.

      During the regime of Obama, Osama bin Laden was killed by an elite team of US Navy  in Abbottabad, Pakistan. According to Michelle , this was  one of the most important events in  Obama’s  first  tenure as President.

Barack was re-elected as president of the USA  on November6, 2012. “We had managed two terms in office  without a major scandal. We had held ourselves and the  people who worked with us  to the highest standards  of ethics and decency , and we had made it all the way through”.They walked out of the White House  on January , 2017, accompanying  Donald and Melania trump to the inauguration ceremony.

Michelle met Nelson Mandela .”There was no one alive who’d a more meaningful impact  on the world  than Nelson  Mandela  had, at least by my measure”. I liked to mention that I was the great-great –granddaughter of a slave  named Jim Robinson. She sees optimism in surprising places.

   She ends the book with these lines:” There’s power in allowing yourself  to be known and heard, in owning your unique story , in using your authentic voice .And there’s grace in being willing to know  and hear others. This , for me, is how we become.”

     I liked  very much reading this inspiring  book by Michelle Obama. I recommend  everyone to read this book , especially the young girls of India.