Miss Misunderstood: It's time Melania Trump's good work transcended the circus around husband Donald Trump | Opinion
Ever since First Lady Melania Trump moved into the White House in June 2017, her life has been a rollercoaster. She's been scrutinized for everything from her choice of wardrobe to her past career as a model. She's almost always left behind on political greets by her husband and the internet constantly judges her based on her, well, husband and sympathizes with her for being married to him. But, Melania is actually using a lot of her resources to put out good in the world which unfortunately gets overshadowed by the circus that constantly follows her husband, President Donald Trump.
Melania is fluent in five languages — Slovene, English, French, Serbian and German in spite of dropping out of university to pursue a career in modeling. She may not hold a degree, but that hasn't stopped her from addressing crowds that could eat her up for days for one slip up and making a difference with a cause she truly believes in. Her crusade against cyberbullying is noteworthy and although she's often ridiculed for it because of her husband's internet persona and accused of not understanding bullying, there's no denying that she's trying really hard to make a difference.
Melania's 'Be Best' campaign launched on May 7, 2018, and since then, she's worked tirelessly to spread her message of all-around well-being for children and families of Americans. The campaign also focuses on opioid abuse and addiction as well as toxic social media behavior. None of these issues are simple, to put it simply, and one must acknowledge her efforts to make a change. She has promoted her initiative almost everywhere she's gone and recently also embarked on her first solo domestic overnight trip to promote the cause.
She met with Microsoft President Brad Smith in Washington on this particular journey and visited Microsoft's Seattle executive campus to see the company's latest technological developments designed to help children stay safe online while they play games like Fortnite. The results seem promising too. While Smith has expressed that he would work with the campaign wherever they see fit, he also noted that the campaign had an important message and that he reportedly resonated with it as well. Microsoft has, in contrast, disagreed with her husband's policies in the past.
A Goodwill Ambassador for American Red Cross, an Honorary Chair of Martha Graham Dance Institution, an Honorary Chair of Boys Club of New York, and an active participant in Child Abuse Prevention Week and Woman of the Year (2006) Police Athletic League, Melania cared about the cause so much that as soon as she got out of kidney surgery last year, the first thing she did, when she made her public appearance was to visit a children's hospital to start a conversation about neonatal withdrawal. She also visited Arizona and Texas to meet with undocumented immigrant children at the border.
Even though progress may be slow, Melania is keeping at it with her head down and letting her work speak for itself.
