Image: YouTube/SouthernLiving
As President Obama leaves office and Donald Trump prepares to take over, there is still a lot of political rancor in the air. Much of America is mourning the loss of an administration they loved, and much of America can’t wait for a change. And if my Facebook feed is any indication, it seems, no one can be nice about it.
Except for former first daughters Barbara Bush and Jenna Bush Hager. In a letter to their younger counterparts, Malia and Sasha Obama, published on TIME.com yesterday, the Bush twins gave the Obama girls something we can all use a dose of: kindness and encouragement.
In the letter, the Bush daughters describe meeting Sasha and Malia on the day of their father’s inauguration and showing them around the White House. “When you slid down the banister of the solarium, just as we had done as 8-year-olds and again as 20-year-olds chasing our youth, your joy and laughter were contagious,” they recalled, referencing not only their time in their father’s White House, but in their grandfather’s as well. It turns out all kids enjoy sliding down that banister, regardless of their parents’ political affiliations.
They then go on to compliment the Obama girls, saying, “We have watched you grow from girls to impressive young women with grace and ease.”
And then, the letter moves into the “advice” phase—and here is where it becomes truly extraordinary. Jenna and Barbara speak to Malia and Sasha as their older and more experienced counterparts, and prove that, despite differences in their parents’ political views and the color of their skin, they share an exceptional bond that very few others living do: they grew up Presidential. And they know what it’s like to have to forge an adulthood that forever bears the mark of a childhood like no other.
“Now you are about to join another rarified club, one of former First Children—a position you didn’t seek and one with no guidelines. But you have so much to look forward to. You will be writing the story of your lives, beyond the shadow of your famous parents, yet you will always carry with you the experiences of the past eight years.”
First, they encourage the girls to cherish and maintain the relationships they made with White House staff and Secret Service agents, acknowledging that “they put their lives on hold for us.” They touchingly describe how the people that served them while their parents were in the White House have been there for the big moments of their lives outside of it.
Next, they encourage the young girls to “enjoy college. As most of the world knows, we did,” making a tongue-in-cheek reference to their court appearance for underage drinking while their dad was in office. “Make mistakes—you are allowed to,” they exhort. (I hope Malia and Sasha will note the ability the Bush girls have to poke fun at themselves as well!)
Finally, they encourage the girls to make the most of all they have seen and heard, the privilege of traveling and learning about others that their father’s office afforded them.
But it’s the Bush and Hager’s parting words that will mean the most, I’m sure: an acknowledgement that being in a world where your parents are constantly criticized is just plain hard. “You have listened to harsh criticism of your parents by people who had never even met them. You stood by as your precious parents were reduced to headlines…As always, they will be rooting for you as you begin your next chapter. And so will we.”
In a world where, as I mentioned, people are still screaming intolerance and hatred for anyone who disagrees with them politically, where our country is more divided than perhaps any time since the Civil War, these words of love and light from the Bush daughters to the Obama daughters truly spoke to my heart.
My prayer is that we can ALL be more of THIS to each other.
Read the entire letter at TIME.
