Becoming

Becoming by Michelle Obama is a gorgeous memoir of everywhere she’s been and rescinds the idea of passive conformity.  Mrs. Obama takes readers on her life’s journey of how she worked through her life to be the driver of her own destiny.  

The self-described box checker ticks through the experiences which brought her and her husband as she would call him, to the decision to run for the highest office.  

Those experiences are what made Becoming feel like I was meeting the mentor I always needed but never got.   I felt introduced to a woman full of humility navigating the treacherous waters of life in politics.  She writes as gracefully as a former first lady but as honestly as modern mother raising kids in the 21^st century.  Her down to earth mindset felt relatable when I had no reason to relate. 

Mrs. Obama’s interpretation of politics and her understanding that progress in this country tends to pass slowly cuts through the optical carefulness of traditional politics when she admitted to inner-city school kids that no one in politics would be rescuing them.  Some in politics might not even know those kids exist.  She encouraged them to channel their path through school and education which came across as the most honest and encouraging thing she could give to kids.  Telling them not to wait for her or anyone else to change life for them.  

The only thing that rang as ingenuine was when the former FLOTUS spent a chapter talking about how the position of first family constantly made her feel confined due to meticulous schedule planning and secret service protection.  Mrs. Obama in the next chapter talked about her first trip to Walter Reid Medical Center to visit with wounded soldiers and she wrote that she was scheduled to spend 90 minutes at the hospital and ended up spending four hours there.  It felt out of character with the description she previously made of detailed plans that executive branch staff was dedicated to.  But this anecdote doesn’t take away from the sincerity of the woman.

Becoming is a piece of advice offered to the world by an intelligent, determined and passionate woman to take or leave but her honesty is not up for debate.