Kay:
Alright, family final installment here in book club. We have one of our very favorite authors. She’s only written one book, but my goodness was it transformative for us both. This book is called “Becoming” and it’s by the wonderful Michelle Obama.
Shi:
This book is a memoir. It’s really, you get to sit and take a front-row seat to Mrs. Michelle Obama’s growing up and young adulthood and life, and what it’s been like to be in that co-pilot seat to the first black president of the US and what that rise was like. It’s an inspiring tale, and it’s mostly a story, which I love because there’s so much imagery and so much to connect to on a human level. Yet when she will stop on a teaching point and give you some of that gold, it just hits so deep and in such a beautiful resonating way that I think only the kind of lesson that’s extracted from a life story can.
Kay:
Well, many of us watched her life story kind of play out in the media and in front of us as she spent nearly a decade as our nation’s First Lady. In the book she talks about when they were having to do media training for her in the very beginning of Barack Obama’s campaign and as the campaign was growing steam, and that she was coming across as what she says is a stereotypical, angry black woman on her interviews that she was doing. People were starting to say things like she’s aggressive and she’s angry and she had to go through training in order to learn how to make different facial expressions and speak in different tones that allowed her to not give that impression. But seeing evolution from the image of the First Lady that I carry in my mind of the epitome of grace and understanding that that had to be something that she worked on and worked through was just so interesting to observe and to listen to.
Shi:
Yes, that story, in particular, I think really highlights why she chose to name the book “Becoming” and a quote from the book she says, “For me, becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as a forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.” And so, she’s sharing with you insights from her journey that’s behind her while still recognizing that she’s a work in progress as we all are and that’s exactly what we should be, and that as cliché as it is that is about the journey and trying to really embrace that and then find a way to become that best, fullest expression of who you’re meant to be even in the face of people saying that it should be different or that you aren’t valid or that your kind is different. I mean, the amount of racism and hate that she’s experienced is pretty ugly and pretty nasty, and for her to be able to come out the other end so mature, so compassionate, so–I think–observant is another lesson in and of itself.
Kay:
You know, one of the major lessons from the book that actually struck Shila and I on a very long-term level is this idea that she brings forward, that it’s hard to hate up close. Now, it’s no secret that the United States’ political climate is full of–I would say–hatred…
Shi:
Yeah.
Kay:
…from both parties and can be really difficult. But as she toured the nation, as she came alongside people, as people came alongside her and learned that she was a good person, and she learned more about what it meant to be a veteran’s wife, or a military wife, or a military spouse. As she learned more about the struggles of the nation’s people, she really centered around this idea that the closer we can get to one another, the more compassion and empathy that we hold for one another, and it really does get summed up well in that quote, that it’s hard to hate up close.
Shi:
I love that she brought it’s hard to hate up close and Kay and I say that to this day and always attribute it to this book and there are so many just beautiful pieces. A story that will stick with me forever is her learning piano from the woman who lived downstairs from them when she was a young girl and going to her very first recital and the piano that she had to play at in that recital didn’t have a broken chip on the middle C. So she sat down at the keyboard and didn’t know where middle C was and that downstairs neighbor who had been teaching her quickly realized what was happening, walked out on stage, showed her where C was, and she was able to perform her piece there. But I think there’s just a lot of symbolism in that story.
It’s such a simple story and it’s kind of mundane. It’s something that can and could happen to any of us and yet through stories like that, we get that seat and that behind the curtain view of her as just a human being, as just another person like us, even if she’s reached this major level of achievement and that all of us are going to be products of our environment. If you only ever learn on a piano that has a chipped middle C, when you sit down at a beautiful clean keyboard, you might not know where to start, even though you know what to do once it does get started. So, there were just so many beautiful moments in this book that we really enjoyed.
Kay:
We would absolutely recommend all of the books that we brought forward this week. Michelle, Obama’s “Becoming.” Again, Tony Robbins, pick one of the five that he’s released. All of them are amazing. Brené Brown with–I think she has 10 titles–”Atlas of the Heart” is the newest and the one that we went over. Then, of course, Michael Singers’ “The Untethered Soul.” We hope that you’ve enjoyed book club. And family, if you’re on our social media channels, on our Instagram, or in our Facebook group, we would wholeheartedly request that you come on down, let us know what your favorite books are. We would love to know from you what we should add to this book club so that we can bring you even more in our next round of book club. Thanks so much, guys.
Shi:
Have a great weekend.
