Madonna’s new movie on Africa starts with her saying (close paraphrase) “People ask me why I chose Malawi, but I say I didn’t Malawi chose me” No surprise that the Material Girl kicks the film off with a clichéd hackneyed phrase but I was wondering about the origin of this and where it came from.
I see Adrienne Rich used it in a Poem in the 70’s and in the last 5 years :Benazir Bhutto use it in a book, A Member of the Aryan Brotherhood uses it in a Newsweek Article, and it is in the Title of a Memoir so named from Ebony Stroman
If we can’t say where it started, can we say where it became popular enough to be kind of familiar (i.e was it in a speech or Movie)?
(I know Jesus tells the Disciples in John 15 You did not choose Me but I chose you … but I think that is exactly the opposite of the ego-stroking phrase above)