Backwards and Forwards

After reading through the entire memoir of Barack Obama, I believe that he finally finds the person he is by going back to see the culture that he comes from. He always feels out of place in Hawaii and in Chicago, but when he goes to Kenya, he finally feels like he is at home. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that he looks like he fits in. He is, for once, a part of the majority and he no longer feels that he sticks out like a sore thumb. Another reason that he is so comfortable in Kenya is that he has a name there. Just hearing the name Barack Obama brings about a history and a story from the past and a lot of the time reveals a distant relative. It becomes clear to him that he does have a place where he belongs and a group of people that share the same feelings and desires that he has. He even begins to realize that his father and grandfather were just as confused and scared as he is. He hears their stories and realizes the trials they had to bear and the pain that came along with the inability to provide for everyone in need. He feels that this is an inherited burden that he must carry and that, along with the family he has just discovered, comes a great responsibility. This is the reason that he was a community organizer and the thing that pushes him forward in his life, this responsibility to his people, his community, his culture, his past and his future. Barack Obama learned that, sometimes, you have to go back where you came from in order to find out where you are going.