Becoming an optimist?
I finally read Becoming by Michelle Obama, and it’s probably the most real and hopeful thing I’ve read since Tuesdays with Morrie , minus the 20/20 hindsight of a whole life lived and on the brink of ending. That’s not to say that this memoir doesn’t include hindsight; indeed, it has excerpts from a young Michelle’s journal and her commentary many years later. As a person who journals herself (and dabbles in blogging), I find that one of the best reasons to keep a journal is to remind ourselves of our feelings and how, with time and perspective, they change, and then we can see how we have changed and (hopefully) evolved. I read this book not because I’m a Barack fan (I don’t believe we should be fans of politicians, though I also appreciate the way he writes) but because I was curious about what the experience of this family was like as the first Black family to grace the White House. How well they felt received and how hard they worked to get there. And as Michelle is not herself ...
