A Place of Brightness: An Optimist Gives Thanks for the Life of Maya Angelou...

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

An Optimist Gives Thanks for the Life of Maya Angelou...

I give thanks to the Creator for the Life, Spirit, and Joy of Maya Angelou.

Requiescas in pace, Maya, Soror mea...

Politics are unimportant in a moment such as this. All Americans can and should set aside partisan sentiment and recognize that a great writer and thinker has passed from us.

For me, the poem she composed for Bill Clinton's Inauguration will always remain an achievement that solidifies her legacy as a master of words and a champion of hope.

I will present the final stanza, and then explain why my eyes fill with tears whenever I read it:

Here on the pulse of this new day
You may have the grace to look up and out
And into your sister's eyes, into
Your brother's face, your country
And say simply
Very simply
With hope
Good morning.

This disarms me. The vaulted rhetoric of the piece suddenly lands in this seemingly colloquial and trivial phrase, "Good morning."

And that's when it hits you. If only we all said it...and meant it.

Her whole point is that if we would all just extend the most basic of courtesies, truly and from the heart, we could transform our society.

In her writings, she exuded joy and optimism. Everything she wrote, I read and smile.

God bless you, Maya. Rest in peace. May you be in a Place of Brightness and Repose.

Ora pro nobis...

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