Wisdom from Michelle Obama

When I turned on the TV last week, the channel was tuned to the Ellen Show and Michelle Obama was her guest.  With great interest I sat down for a few minutes to watch. It was delightful to see these two wonderful women connecting and having fun, and they had such an important and healing conversation that I wanted to share it with you.  It began by Ellen saying, “I personally feel frightened. I feel like the world is a very scary place right now,”

Michelle responded:

“People are afraid, but then there are people who feel good about the direction of the country. So I mean, that’s what makes this country complicated because it’s made up of so many different people from different backgrounds.  I mean, we are this mosh pit of society and sometimes there’s a rub,

“The thing that we have to remember, the thing I learned in the eight years I was in the White House, is…the good things that we do every day, and we know we do it. We show empathy, we care for each other, you know.  We do have a lot in common.  That’s what it means to lead with hope and not fear. And that’s all we have is hope.

“So, I would just encourage the country to do the things we do every day. To love each other, to take care of each other, to show empathy – and you can’t do that only when people make you feel good or safe. We’ve got to do it all across the board. We have to be an open-hearted nation, and that’s who we are. And that’s the truth of who we are. We can’t lose sight of that.

“So, let’s just keep living our lives like that every single day and forget what they’re saying in Washington. That’s not necessarily who we are. We know who we are, and I know who this country is because I went out to towns and cities all over the place and even if people didn’t agree with me or my husband, they were kind, they were hardworking, they were trying to do the right things every day and that’s what we have to remember about each other.”