“When they go low,” Michelle Obama broadly said in a stirring July 2016 discourse in the midst of a merciless race cycle, “We go high.”
Donald Trump would proceed to win the White House, thanks in no little part to those “low” strategies, which have since turned into an apparatus of his organization.
Presently, going on two years after the fact, might the previous first woman want to change her comments?
Not by any means. But to take note of that “going high” doesn’t mean throwing in the towel from what you have faith in.
Michelle Obama developed the idea in a meeting with Blavity, a media site revolved around dark recent college grads, empowering perusers ― and government officials ― to not undermine themselves by stooping to Trump’s level:
“I totally still trust that we must go high ― dependably and no matter what,” she said. “It’s the main way we can keep our respect. In such a case that we lose our pride, what do we have cleared out?
“At the point when somebody’s attempting to maneuver you down into the mud, it requires significantly less exertion to give in and go along with them in the refuse than to keep yourself upright, standing tall. In the event that you enable yourself to play on their terms, they win. It’s what they need you to do. You can’t give them the fulfillment.”
She proceeded:
Now, going high doesn’t mean giving up or ignoring reality. It doesn’t mean you shy away from the fight or weaken your principles. It means you lead with your whole heart and your whole soul — your whole value system — and not just whatever happens to be your stance on a given issue. Going high isn’t just about the fight you want to win, but it’s also about the person you want to be — and the kind of country you want to have.
What Barack and I have always tried to do is this: When the haters come our way, we don’t let them distract us from our purpose. We brush them off when we can, and we deal with them when we need to. But we never lose sight of our goal. We never stop working. And we never stop trying to set a good example for the next generation — not just for our two daughters but everyone’s kids. Do we want the next generation to be angry? Do we want them to be spiteful and petty? Or do we want them to live by the values that our parents taught us — values like honesty and generosity and respect?
I think the answer is easy enough. And it’s an answer that always applies, not just when it’s easy.
