‘Every single one of you has something that you’re good at’: Barack Obama

Often in life, you may become discouraged with a multitude of setbacks. During times of hardship, it becomes easy to lose sight of your goals. If you’ve been struggling to find motivation, you’ve come to the right place.

Former US president and an impassioned orator Barack Obama, known for his articulate speeches, addressed a school gathering in Arlington, Virginia, and encouraged students to take charge of their future.

He began acknowledging how every single student in the gathering had good qualities, emphasising on the need for education. “Every single one of you has something that you’re good at. Every single one of you has something to offer and you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That’s the opportunity an education can provide.”
“I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.”
He went on to explain how his childhood was also fraught challenges. “I get it, I know what it’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old and I was raised a single mom who had to work and who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us the things that other kids had.”
He continued, “There were times when I missed having a father in my life, there were times when I was lonely and I felt like I didn’t fit in, so I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been on school. I did some things that I’m not proud of and I got in more trouble than I should have and my life could have easily taken a turn for the worst. But I was lucky. I got a lot of second chances and I had the opportunity to go to college and law school and follow my dreams.”

“At the end of the day, the circumstances of your life, what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you’ve got going on at home, none of that is an excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude in school,” he said.
Obama went on to say, “That’s no excuse for talking back to your teacher or cutting class or dropping out of school. There is no excuse for not trying. Where you are right now doesn’t have to determine where you’ll end up. No one’s written your destiny for you.”
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