Becoming
I would be a millionaire if I received one dollar for every time a person asked me the enduring ordinary question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Although I have said the same occupation, a nurse anesthetist, since the seventh grade, I obtain a different response from every person. “Oh, that’s a stressful job.” “Can you handle death well?” If I am being completely honest, those comments made me rethink a few of my decisions. I was on the edge of reconsidering my career because of another person’s opinion. Luckily, just when I needed it, I stumbled upon the perfect role model for me: Michelle Obama.
To put it bluntly, Michelle Obama’s amount of power was undervalued for a long period of time by many people. Admittedly, I thought of her the same way until I ran across her Netflix documentary, “Becoming.” Those ninety minutes of watching were some of the most inspirational moments of my life. There were many comparable details that were revealed. Michelle dealt with opposition, bullying, and underestimation. For example, she was told she was not Princeton material, although her brother was attending there at the time. Now when you look up her name, beside “Education”, it will say Harvard Law School and Princeton University. That is the definition of perseverance. This shows you that no matter what the next person thinks, anything you want to pursue in life IS possible, as long as you put in the necessary effort. For years, I thought being the president of every club, having a perfect score on the ACT and SAT, and maintaining a 5.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) was the most important thing in order to be successful in life. However, after hearing Michelle express, “I think what makes you more than a stat is once you see yourself more than a stat. Who are you? What do you care about? What brings you joy? And I hope my story urges you to see the power of your story, and to own that,” made me realize my true worth. My stats do not show who I really am as an individual. My hobbies, ambitions, and personality speak so much louder than a report card. Michelle’s story made me see a clearer vision of my own. In sum, those are the reasons why I am proud and confident to declare that Michelle Obama is my motivator. The statement, “People with half your intelligence are being promoted past you and you watch opportunities pass not because you’re not able, but because they feel like you don’t deserve it”, changed my views on society. I deal with the weird stares, judgemental opinions over appearance, and the slick, offensive comments like any other black girl in America would receive. But instead of using that as an excuse, I use it as my motivation, just as Michelle did.