Like there are varieties of fascism, there are varieties of Condoleezza Rice – that is, there are many diverse dimensions of her life. And so to start considering her life through memoir writing you have to pick some spot to concentrate on. It will be quite clumsy indeed to sit down and try to write a full memoir of Condi’s Life in one book. You can but it will be clumsy. And so it is necessary to focus on one particular area.
This is what had happened to Condoleezza Rice herself recently. In writing a memoir about herself, she chose to focus on that aspect of life that sustained her as black child in Birmingham Alabama where the atmosphere was choked with hatred against black people. The aspect is that; as an ordinary person nothing can stop you to become extraordinary.
“My parents and the whole black community in the area demonstrated to me that you might not be able to control your circumstances but you could control your responses to the circumstances. And the best armor against everything around you was to be well educated, to work hard – to be twice as good as you could be”.
The title of the book Extraordinary Ordinary people attest to this kind of view Condi embraced at an early age, being raised as a black child and then become the secretary of state. This is a monumental testimony of an ordinary person becoming extraordinary.
It was William James, the father of modern psychology who said: “most people live – whether physically, intellectually or morally – in a very restricted circle of their potential being. We all have reservoirs of life to draw upon, of which we do not dream”. And he is right.
Myself a black person growing up in the segregated apartheid South Africa, where as black people we were daily kicked and called all sorts of names from monkey to baboon I know the experience that if an average despised and downtrodden person can realize how extraordinary he or she truly is, that person will be astonished that it is not about the other person who hates you and despise you, it is what is what is inside of you that counts. And so Condi in this book deliberately offers these lessons to people who had her similar experiences.
As President Barack Obama says: “It’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.”
It is also just as Michael Jordan says in his book Driven From Within: No one knew what I was capable of scoring, and no one tried to define me by putting a number on those expectations. No one had in mind what would be acceptable for me. After the first year, the expectations came, but by then I had positive habits. I had built a foundation for my game, so it wasn’t a surprise to me. I understood that the reason I was getting attention was because of the work I had put in up to that point, not because of what I had done to meet other people expectations of me.”
I once read Michele Obama’s much talked about Princeton thesis titled “Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community”. In the thesis Michelle Obama wrote that after completing her degree she wants to be a source of inspiration for black people who are struggling. “Extraordinary Ordinary People” book is written on the same lines; it will inspire and lift up the lives of many people with Condi’s elegant intelligence, strong values, and devotion to family.
“This book is the story of the triumph of a family and its values and a little community that believed that even though you might not be able to afford a hamburger, you could still become the president of the United States if you want to be” – Condoleezza Rice
Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family By Condoleezza Rice
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