Maya Angelou

I was a self-conscious 17-year-old when I first heard the words… I rise, I rise, I rise- some of Maya Angelou’s best known. I already had the inclinations of a writer but hadn’t yet put much of worth down on paper. I found, in those words, a hope that maybe someday I could write something that would be so important to someone as those words were to me. Even now, all of these years later, I still think in my weaker moments when I need something- anything- to grab on to…But still, like air, I’ll rise.

I devoured every word of her's that I could find- her poems, her plays and, most strikingly, her autobiographies. Her life, so different from mine, was inspirational in a way that I had didn’t know was possible. Her struggles and hardships should have created a bitter woman, one who gave up on life and succumbed to the worst of the world as tragedy after tragedy struck her. Instead she was able to see the goodness in life, the beauty and agony of the human soul and to revel in the uniqueness of her own spirit. She fought for the rights of woman and African-Americans. She refused to step around the ugliness in the world, but instead addressed it head on and inspired others to join her on the way to happiness.

The above picture, a framed excerpt from Phenomenal Woman, sits out in my kitchen. I gave a copy to a few special women in my life several years ago. These words, along with so many others that Maya wrote, are a constant reminder to be strong. My heart hurts at the loss of such an extraordinary woman. I can only hope to channel even an ounce of her inspirational strength and maybe, someday, find a way to write down something that will change someone the way she has changed me for the better.

Wishing Maya Angelou a sweet goodbye on this sad day.

"All my work, my life, everything I do is about survival, not just bare, awful, plodding survival, but survival with grace and faith. While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated".

Maya Angelou