It seems such a heartbreaking reality that Barack Obama’s grandmother was not able to live the seventy two hours that would have allowed her to witness the child she loved, the child she stood by, become President of the United States. But at the same time, the strange timing of her death underlines what a grandmother’s love is really meant to do; which is to prepare a child for a world that she may never lay eyes on. To plant enough faith in the goodness of life in his heart, so that he will dare to dream. To plant enough love in his little being to nourish and sustain him long after she is gone.
A grandmother’s love is meant to prepare a child for a world, a moment in time that she may never set foot in. That is perhaps why it is so selfless and profound. A grandmother’s love prepares a child’s character to match a time in history that she may never be a part of. Perhaps that is why it has the power to motivate a grandchild to reach so far beyond her, beyond even himself, because they are reaching for two, for many. A grandmother’s love is meant, from the beginning, to plant a legacy for family members of future generations that she will never meet. Perhaps that is why her love, vision and prayers have the authority and ability to travel through time and impact the future, because they are, by necessity, based on blind faith.
In a time when the bonds of family are often undervalued and the impact that a grandmother’s love can have on a child’s future is not always valued or understood, Barack Obama’s grandmother stands as a symbol of what a grandmother’s love can really mean and accomplish. It can change the world.
