By her own measure, my mom is nothing special. She also likes to say that while she loves us dearly, my brother and I are not special, either. Were just two kids who had enough love and a good amount of luck and happened to do well as a result. She tries to remind people that neighborhoods like the South Side of Chicago are packed full of little Michelles and little Craigs. Theyre in every school, on every block. Its just that too many of them get overlooked and underestimated, so too much of that potential goes unrecognized. This would probably count as the foundational point of my moms larger philosophy: All children are great children.

The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama