Politics aside, lets talk about a genuine person

“One gift I do seem to have is getting really, really good friends around me who got my back. And that gives you a certain serenity in the midst of a lot of foolishness.” — Barack Hussein Obama II

As the 44th President of the United States prepares to take his leave from office, I would like to take a moment to voice a thought I’ve had since hearing this from an interview he did some weeks ago. I thought to myself “Yo, this dude is genuine”. These words resonated with me because it is so much of who I am. I may not be great at a lot of things, but I do know for a fact that I’ve done a great job of making friends. Friends that are caring, supporting and will always keep me grounded. You are who you surround yourself with.

Whether you agree with him politically or not is beside the point here, I want to talk about what it means to be a genuine person. To me, there are 3 important traits that define a person, they are: values, morals, and goals. The 44th, in my opinion, possesses all those traits and more. Wanting to do good is one thing, actually doing good is another. To want to be President is a crazy persons thought to be honest, I can’t even lead myself let alone lead a nation. But to have that innate feeling that you can change the world, that’s something very few people have. He’s a person that came in hopeful and optimistic and he is a person leaving the same way. You should never be around a person who isn’t optimistic.

We all have our beliefs, opinions, views or what have you and being able to lead a life with an open mind but most importantly an open heart is something I appreciate. It is that open understanding that helps society grow as a whole. There’s so much to this life that will not be understood in our lifetime and all we can do is try to be a little better every day.

Thank you for being genuine, Mr. President.