Book of the Week: "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

This is not a political post. No partisan politics. Former First Lady, Michelle Obama, is anything, but political. She left that to her husband as she mentions in her book. "Becoming" is about her and the struggles she faced along the way and the ones she continues to be confronted with. It's a continuous process.

When we hear the word affluent, we usually think of money. That's not a common thought, but I'm going to give you a different way to think about affluence. Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Michelle didn't come from a family of means. Her father was a city worker, who eventually developed debilitating multiple sclerosis, while her mother stayed at home before eventually becoming a secretary. But, I argue, she was wealthy - just not in the money sense.

Michelle grew up with discipline, which her piano teacher, Robbie, helped instill, frowning upon Michelle jumping ahead in their lessons. Her parents never treated her and her older brother, Craig, like children, speaking to them like they were adults. This has shown to increase communication between parent and child. Additionally, education was a priority in the house. There was a set of encyclopedias on a book case, if either Craig or Michelle had question, they were directed to the book case.

All of these things together is a wealth - discipline, communication, education. It's why both Michelle and Craig end up at Princeton. They were well-educated in all aspects of the term. Not a lot of people have this. They were affluent, but in a different sense of the word.

However, despite being accepted into a pair of Ivy League institutions and the exponential success, she achieved, Michelle did not hold back. There were times in high school, at Princeton, and even on the campaign trail with Barack that she questioned herself. Numerous times in the book the thought "Am I Good Enough" crept into her head.

It was really eye-opening to read that sentence. On the outside, she presents her self as this strong, dominant woman, but on the inside she has these doubts. It's something that everyone struggles with at all levels and why she made that part of her mission to empower young girls.

All her life, Michelle has been in traditionally male-dominated professions, and continues to fight against the "old boys club" model that has been pervasive in politics for years. Trying not to make this too political, but she gives the example of a certain presidential candidate following another female candidate around the debate stage. Not only was this male candidate's large frame casting a mountainous shadow over the female candidate, but he showed no sign of backing down and showed he was going away. He was a bully. And from growing up on the south side, the only way she knew how to deal with bullies is to not stoop down to their level: "when they go low, we go high."

It really is an exceptional book, written by an exceptional woman. I highly recommend reading it, if you haven't already.