Her autobiography is a best-seller and Michelle Obama has just reached the top of the list of the most admired women of the world, according to a survey of YouGov Institute.
It’s a kind of repetition to say publicly that her book “Becoming”, and how the contact with her life impacted me, but certainly we’ll hear for ages reports like this, because her story is really inspiring.
Those who know me a little, and others that are curious about it, just glance my resume, since figuring myself out professionally required a little conventional path. I could never answer the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and in the very beginning of the book I came across a good reflection for such question that really anguished me in my childhood:
I was ambitious, although I never knew well what my purpose was like. Nowadays I think that this is one of the most useless questions that an adult can ask a child (…) as if growing were something finite. As if at a certain time you became something and that’s it” (Becoming – Michelle Obama)
I met a lawyer that quit her career to dedicate to human rights, citizenship promotion and community relationship, understanding that this had more to do with her purposes and seemed to be the right path to go. A mother that did everything to find a comfortable and effective environment for her daughters, even working outside full time and handling a set of household, social and intimate issues.
Her report draws our attention to the leading role that we play in the society and how she, a black, “bold” woman, wanted to to share her story to inspire others to think “if she got there, I can also too”.
I don’t long for half of what Michelle has achieved, but her book shows us that it’s possible t build your own way as woman, mother, of any race, with any sexual orientation, inserted in any family model and society.
Often, this is not an easy path, or we don’t even know where we’ll get, but if growing is something infinite, we can at least get bigger in this journey!
Have you read it yet? Tell us what you think of it. For those who haven’t, don’t miss it!!
Photo credit: Barack Obama on Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA
* English is not my native language. If you find any opportunity of improvement, let me know. I’ll love to learn from experts!