We don’t often get to see the real family life of our leaders, least of all the POTUS.
I’m sure like any other loving father, Obama has argued with his teenage daughters, his wife, his mother in law. Possibly even the dog.
But like any loving father, he’s comforted them when they cry, listened when they worried, and passed on the wisdom of his years in the hope they will escape the pain of learning those lessons through experience.
We are lucky he has gifted them some of that wisdom to us through his speeches.
Mr. Obama’s advice to his daughters for a successful life?
“Be kind, be useful.”
That’s all it takes. There isn’t much more to a good life than that.
Oh — “and be fearless.”
Because that’s what it takes to be kind and useful.