Dreams From My Father

Imagine getting a phone call that your father has died and you really didn’t know him… that is how this one begins, a book by our current President.  I learned a great deal about the President Barack Obama’s heritage in Dreams From My Father.  Race plays a huge role in this memoir of his early life through life after his father’s death, while at Harvard Law School.  Obama was separated from his father, a Kenyan, who decided to leave to further his education at Harvard himself.  Obama was born of a bi-racial relationship, his mother was a white woman from Kansas.  They separated when Barack was two years old and she re-married to an Indonesian student, hence his relocation with his parents to Jakarta.    He had challenges keeping up with English learning while away and eventually came back to the states, this time to live with his grandparents who had settled in Hawaii. Obama made his grandparents proud with his attendance at an elite college-prep type school.  Education played a large influence on Obama, knowing it was the key to future successes.  College life was a departure from the type of home life his grandparents provided to him.  He attended Occidental College in CA (I used to know the Director of Res Life there and he never gave me the impression it was a drug/alcohol dominated culture, hmm… good job for changing it Bart!)  That didn’t work out so well, so he transferred to the northern, big NYC college (guess which one?).  Life on his own in NY was an eye-opening experience and led him to realize his calling to help others and be in a leadership role, ah politics!  After NYC, he put his learning into action, working with churches in the Chicago area to do community organizing in an attempt to change the current crime rate and lack of family support.  The last part of the book is when Obama visits his father’s family.  An emotional visit for a man who had never met the family and land of his father yet is faced with the same issues of race experienced in his culture every day.  I really enjoyed the book and I believe it sets a great understanding for those who have never lived beyond their “one-dimensional culture."  If you live in that world, you really need to expand your world view.  While some may want to run back to “Kansas," it never will remain “Kansas” (as depicted by folks as 1 cultural view) – sorry Nick, I remember your favorite book that actually says it was two divided worlds (as will be the same for anywhere in this world now).  Obama’s story is one for the ages, role of community, family and embracing your heritage, no matter what it is.  We don’t choose our past, but knowing it helps us to know ourselves better.  Great read.  Learn something about who is running our country.  It really is important.