You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise. –"Still I Rise" Maya Angelou
Today we mourn the death of the
esteemed poet, actor, singer, humanitarian,
Dr. Maya Angelou. I was saddened upon hearing of her
death. Dr. Angelou became a working mom before
there was such a term. Like many, when I heard of her death I thought of how
much her spirit, eloquence and poetry taught me. She taught me to believe that the best part
of me was left to be discovered. She taught me that greatness was achievable.
And she made me believe that my thoughts were valuable enough to share. She was one of a kind and irreplaceable.
My Introduction to Maya Angelou
Unlike many African American
Women I don’t recall becoming acquainted with Dr. Angelou’s work until
college. I remember vividly where I was.
I was attending rush for what became my sorority,
Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. The
sister read “Phenomenal Woman”, and instantly I became an admirer.
Several years later I had the opportunity
to dance with Maya Angelou. She
literally held my hand and we danced. It still seems like a bit of a dream...
My Dance with Maya Angelou
It was about ten years ago. I was a young lawyer and was a guest at an
event for UNCF in Charlotte. Maya
Angelou was there. The entertainment was
the very talented, “Ashford and Simpson”, a group that Dr. Angelou called her “god
children”. After dinner, Ashford and
Simpson sang a litany of Motown songs. It turns out they wrote most of the
hits, including, “Reach out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)” made famous by Diana
Ross. When they began singing that song
Dr. Angelou decided that everyone should join hands. Since I was the closest person
to her she grabbed my hand and lead me to the front. When we arrived at the
stage we swayed. Others joined us, but for the remainder of the song I could
only see her. After the song ended, she
dropped my hand. The songs got faster
and she returned to her seat. I stayed
on the dance floor and danced, as I have been known to do. After all of the songs were over and I
returned to my seat, she looked me in the eye and said, “keep dancing”. It was a simple encounter, but I was forever
changed.
My only regret is that this
happened before the age of social media when we all began documenting our lives
for the world to see. As far as I know there are no photographs of our dance.
Still, it happened. It was real. And I was forever changed.
It was not quite as dramatic as the
woman who was healed after touching the hem of Christ’s garment, but it was magical.
I felt taller, more confident and
beautiful. I thought perhaps I had
developed the “Heart of a Woman”, discovered by the “Caged Bird Sings”, and
become a “Phenomenal Woman”. After a few
days, I remembered that I was just me, but my faith was renewed and I began to
write again. Since then, I have believed,
if I could dance with Maya Angelou on a rather regular Saturday night anything
is possible.
As a thank you, I added her to my
Christmas card list and have sent her one every year since. I guess I’ll be sending one less this
year. Thank you Dr. Angelou for helping
me to develop into the woman I was always meant to be.
Comments