First Ladies Follow-up.

I am writing this post to follow-up on some previous comments I made in an earlier post about Hilary and Michelle (http://21stcenturyaccordingtoemily.blogspot.com/2009/10/first-ladies.html). I read this article in the Washington Post that made me reflect further on the last year of the First Lady's reign. The article, found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123103000.html?wprss=rss_print/style, points out that Mrs. Obama has not chosen one particular cause to push or advacate for, unlike many of her predecessors.

"She announced the high school mentoring program but did not introduce any of the young women participating. She talked about the need for health-care reform and highlighted the importance of community-based medical centers -- but only in person to people who already believe all of that to be true. She has been an advocate for supporting military families and increasing volunteerism, which is a bit like coming out in favor of doing unto others as you'd have them do unto you. She has used her position to draw attention to a broad range of topics. But so far, she has not been an advocate."

"She's brought star power to a lot of different settings," says Myra Gutin, a historian and author of "The President's Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth Century." "Anything she does is going to be a positive for that organization."

"An advocate, to me, means picking one sustained project and bringing all your focus and force to an issue," Gutin says. "When Lady Bird Johnson decided to advocate environmentalism -- or what she called beautification -- she was all over the country with it. That's what I think of as really advocating."

"The advocacy followed her out of the White House. The same thing happened with Barbara Bush," who supported literacy.

Based on my earlier post, I am sure it would seem that I would agree with Givhan, but it actually brings up one of those age-old questions--Is it better to spread ourselves over a variety of interests or dedicate all of our time to a singular passion? I don't know the answer to that one. While Michelle Obama could do wonders for one great cause, what could she have done for many other organizations if she just spent a little time working with each of them? It all goes back to that economic term we all learn about in school--opportunity cost. In fact this issue stems out to all branches of your personal lives, too. Is it better to spend all your time building one friendship, or having a large group of acquaintances? Should you cultivate one hobby or interest to the level of expert or be decent at a bunch of things you like? Who is to say which path is the better one? Maybe Mrs. Obama has it right. I guess the world will never truly know.