Washington, March 9
Former US President Barack Obama shared a letter by an Indian-American woman on the occasion of International Womens Day, urging others to read about her "inspiring" story.
"When Michelle and I came back from vacation, we found this note from a woman named Sindhu waiting for us. I'm proud of Michelle for the difference she made in this young woman's life, and I'm inspired by Sindhu's story, so I thought I'd share it with you today," Obama wrote in a blog post.
In her letter, Sindhu, a 38-year-old Indian-American woman, thanked Michelle Obama for inspiring her years ago, reported American Bazaar Online.
"One day in Fall 1966, an idealistic 17-year old Indian girl was inspired while sitting in a chapel. She didn't remember the name of the woman who spoke. But she will never forget the fire that was lit to make something of her life, and to use that life to serve others," the letter read.
Sindhu wrote that after that speech, she signed up to be a volunteer at a hospital and signed up for an after-school programme teaching creative writing and literature for underserved children in the community.
"I later found out that the inspirational powerhouse of a woman who spoke was Michelle Obama," she wrote.
"Thank you to both of you for your profound levels of activism within our community, leading up to a historic event that I did not think I would witness in my lifetime. Thank you for how you treated children, both your own and all of Americans, with kindness, humour, and spontaneity," she wrote, thanking the former first couple.
"The ways in which you have impacted the world have left me expecting so much more from our world. And I know that this is not an expectation I can have without being part of that change," Sindhu added.
The letter ends with the Indian-American woman telling the Obamas that "she's in" for changing the world for better once they come back from their vacation.
Here, what
Sindhu wrote to the Obamas (emphasis in it Barack's):
One
day in Fall 1996, an idealistic 17-year old Indian girl was inspired while
sitting in a chapel. She didn't remember the name of the woman who spoke. But
she will never forget the fire that was lit to make something of her life, and
to use that life to serve others. That week, she signed up to be a volunteer at
the hospital and signed up for an after-school program teaching creative
writing and literature for underserved children in the community.
Twenty-one
years later, that girl is now a 38-year old woman, a bit older in body,
sometimes a bit jaded, but much younger in spirit. That woman fires up medical
students to be passionate about behavioral sciences and psychiatry, serves
children and adults struggling with mental illness, and continues an after-school
outreach program to teach 6th graders about how to care for their mental
health. That torch lit as a freshman at the University of Chicago continues to
be ablaze.
That
17-year old was me. I later found out that the inspirational powerhouse of a
woman who spoke was Michelle Obama.
I
wanted to say thank you to the both of you. Thank you, Michelle, for helping a
vulnerable teenager raised to comply to start to challenge the notion that she
was powerless. Thank you, Michelle, for teaching by both words and example that
the best uses of power and influence are in the service of others and our
community. Thank you to both of you for your profound levels of activism within
our community, leading up to a historic event that I did not think I would
witness in my lifetime. Thank you for how you treated children, both your own
and all of America's, with kindness, humor, and spontaneity.
I
am now a middle-aged Indian woman who is married to an Indian feminist man and
raising a feminist 3-year old son (whose middle name is Atticus and who thinks
he is actually Thomas the train.) They are amazing. The ways in which you have
impacted the world have left me expecting so much more from our world. And I know that this is not an expectation I can have
without being part of that change. The events from this week, this
amazing women's march, echoed globally that the expectations I have are not
ones I hold in isolation. I want a different world. I need a different world.
So
when you get back from your vacation, I wanted to let you know.
I'm
in.
