Jessica Bablis
Jessica Bablis is an avid writer who writes about self-belief and empowerment. Her inspiration is ordinary everyday people and their stories.
Michelle Obama: Becoming
What I learned from Michelle Obama about becoming me.
What does a Former First Lady of the most powerful nation in the world and a girl from an island in the Pacific with an African-sounding name have in common?
That was the question I had when I first opened the pages of Michelle Obama’s memoir “Becoming”.
If that is not courage, I don’t know what is
I was pleasantly surprised to find that this larger than life woman was so relatable. Maybe what made her so relatable to me was how after graduating from Harvard Law at 25 years young, she chose to stay at home with her parents while working. Or maybe it was the simple way she fell in love with her husband, just a simple realization that – (in her own words) he’s a good person.
Here was an accomplished woman at 25 years young – a Princeton Sociology degree, a Harvard Law degree, a corporate lawyer. She checked all the boxes, she “made it” and yet she felt like she wasn’t where she was supposed to be. Although she wasn’t yet willing to admit this to herself until much later. She left her corporate law job to work in community development, taking an almost 50% pay cut in her first year working in the Mayor’s office.
If that’s not courage, I don’t know what is – turning your back on security and comfort and walking towards an uncertain future, with no guarantee of success.
After a lot of soul searching, she decided she wanted to work with children and young people, a passion she carried with her to the Whitehouse with her well-known initiatives – “Let’s Move” and “Reach Higher”. Something she said about children that stayed with me was this “…kids know at a very young age, when they’re being devalued, when adults aren’t interested enough to help them learn. Their anger over it, can manifest itself in unruliness”.
And this is what I found most relatable about Michelle, and what surprised me the most was that she too, like me, like many of us – struggled with being invisible. From her life, she experienced the invisibility that comes with being poor, female, and of color. She describes this in her memoir when she visited a school in England for underprivileged girls from ethnic minorities
Young girls would need to work hard to be seen
She observed the sad truth that despite their strengths these young girls would need to work hard to be seen. They’d have to push back against the stereotypes that would be put on them, all the ways they’d be defined before they had a chance to define themselves. They’d have to work to find their voices and not be diminished, to keep themselves from being beaten down. They would have to work just to learn.
Michelle reflects that although she was faced with the same disadvantages, by some chance of fate, some would call the grace of God – she was born into a good family to support, protect and affirm her. Her parents met as teenagers and stayed married for the rest of their lives until her dad died. Her parents and grandparents were raised in oppressive circumstances, where their disadvantages crushed their dreams and desires. But the beauty was their hope for something better was poured into their children “He [Michelle’s dad] died giving us everything” she wrote.
It was this seed that her parents planted that created a powerful woman who would make it her life’s purpose to be to children and youths what her parents had been to her – encouraging, affirming, and present. Over and over her message to young people was – we believe in you, we see you, you matter, you are important.
Articles by Jessica Bablis