Lady M had to fly to Oregon on Father’s Day to give Oregon State’s commencement address:
She got her own hoodie when she received an “honorary doctorate in public health for her work as first lady on fighting childhood obesity and improving health.”
As she always does on these occasions, she nagged lectured counseled the kids to follow their hearts instead of the almighty dollar: that demon piston of capitalism. She illustrated her point with personal stories about herself and big brother Craig, because we should all have personal heroes to emulate:
“We still had all the traditional markers of success with a fat paycheck, the fancy office, the impressive lines on our resumes,” the first lady told a crowd of about 30,000, including 5,000 graduates. “But the truth is, neither of us was all that fulfilled.”
“I was living the dream, but it wasn’t my dream,” Obama said. “Craig felt the same way, unbeknownst to me.”
Eventually, both left their lucrative jobs for other passions. Obama went to work for the Chicago mayor, Robinson to coach basketball.
“Success is only meaningful and enjoyable if it feels like your own,” Obama said.
This phenomenon is also known as the “imposter syndrome” – the feeling that you aren’t qualified for your position and live in a state of consequent fear of exposure and failure.
While it’s said to effect qualified people too, it most often effects people who have good reason to feel inadequate: they are woefully unprepared for the position they have somehow managed to snag through over-inflated credentials or influential contacts. Butt I digress, this is certainly not pertinent to Lady M or brother Craig.
Obama also advised graduates to keep in close touch with the family and friends who are important to them, saying she never missed a chance to tell her father she loved him before he died from complications of multiple sclerosis. She fought tears as she recalled her mother’s assurances that her father was proud to be her dad.
“Liking them on Facebook doesn’t count,” she said. “Nor does following then (sic) on Twitter. What counts is making the time to be there in person.”
(Let the record reflect that Lady M wished the Wee Wons’ father a “Happy Father’s Day” via Twitter: "Thinking of two fathers I love dearly—the one who raised me and the one I married. Incredibly grateful for both. –mo," Tweeted from Lady M’s @MichelleObama account) The Wee Wons had to tweet him as well, as Big Guy was on the golf course for a little R&R time (5 hours) with the boys before taking to the skies for Los Cabos and a little one-on-one time with Puti at the G-80/20 conference.
Just one more example of the seemingly endless sacrifices both Lady M and Big Guy are required to make for us and the country. I don’t know how we’ll ever thank them properly.
By the way, here’s a few pictures from last month’s photo roundup of the Wons’ sacrifices, in case you missed any of them (h/t Blonde Gator):
The above may require a little explanation. Lady M is touchin’ Virginia Tech’s Hokie Stone for luck, as is the tradition, when she was there to deliver the commencement address last month.
Fittingly, Virginia Tech’s motto is “invent the future” - a natural progression from Big Guy’s personal mottoes of “invent the past” and “invent the present.”
Anyway try not to get these two mixed up; that’s “Hokie” -
not Hopey:
To be clear, Virginia Tech’s Hokie Stone is primarily dolomite, a sedimentary rock formed from calcium and magnesium carbonate that occurs in muted shades of pink, red, gray, brown, and black. Butt I guess it is easily confused with the Hopey Buh-rock which is primarily a socialite, a sedentary rock formed from an axiom and sodium bicarbonate that occurs in muted shades of white, brown and black.
The only thing they really have in common seems to be football.
Oh, and I almost forgot. Because Lady M couldn’t be there in person yesterday, she made this little non-partisan home video promoting Big Guy Father’s Day. And let me just put all of you rightwing media nuts on notice: don’t even think about using this exploitative video of the innocent little pawns for your own purposes.
Linked By: NOBO2012 on Free Republic, Thanks!
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