Becoming

"Becoming." The former First Lady's memory-sharing marathon covered the early years of her husband's early decisions to enter public life and politics in Chicago, during the first decade of this century. By the time our road trip was nearing its end, I was hearing Michelle's memories about the first term of Barack's presidency, and a few details about the beginning of his second term. Mrs. Obama's choice of the word, "Becoming", brought to my mind Bob Dylan's phrase, "he not busy being born is busy dying." Or, to put it less directly, a life well-lived is a life in which new discoveries and reaching new horizons of experience is a life lived to the fullest potential.

My 6-hour hearing of Michelle's memory-sharing provided for me a vivid experience of being a well-positioned hearer of history in the making, from the outside looking in, including her mention of the pioneering students who, in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the 1950's boldly entered the formerly all-white public schools of that city. Recalling my own early 1950s' childhood in Jackson, Mississippi (which memories had later become historical fodder for my 2009 historical fiction novel, King of Soul) I understood clearly the racial contentions of that era that had set the course for the Civil Rights movement of the 20th-century. But of course, that was only one of the earliest of many anecdotal references that the First Lady from Chicago shared in her memoir. Other memories included an ongoing exposition of Michelle's campaign as First Lady, to improve the nutritional content of food and snacks in public schools, and. . . shaking hands with the playwright who had composed the Broadway hit play, Hamilton. . . meeting Nelson Mandela in South Africa, who had worked his way to the Presidency of that nation after being in prison for 27 years. . . and Michelle's mentions of inspiration she had receieved from her readings of earlier historic pioneers, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. There was a moment in my listening time when the direction of this writing became entrenched in my mind. After an aural exposition of all their years of life. . . unfolding from the south side of Chicago, expanding into poltiical campaigns that led to the Illinois legislature, the US Senate and ultimately the Presidency . . . this phrase grabbed my attention: "Twice as good to go half as far". Michelle quoted this phrase, an old maxim of experience spoken by struggling black folk, when she was describing their move to the Washington and its most-historical residence, the White House. It seemed to me, listening, that Michelle Obama and her husband had and reversed the meaning of that old sayin' - by occupying the Presidential mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. President Barack Obama and his First Lady, Michelle, had accomplished - with a little help from their friends - an historical reversal. They had conducted their life together in a manner that was "twice as good, to go . . .twice as far!"! In other words, they had turned the whole around, o'erleaping a centuries-old, discrimination juggernaut around, and redirecting it as their progressive groundswell into the Congress of the United States of America, and ultimately the Presidency. No small feat for a couple of fireball Chicago activists! They demonstrated for all Americans, for all future generations, the power of hope and hard work, when applied by true believers in the American dream. . . that all men and women are created equal, with an inclination toward the pursuit of happiness. . . and to the enactment - yeah, I say unto theee - the fulfillment - of public leadership that enables and multiplies happiness among all citizens of these United States! You go, girl! Glass half-Full