Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Remembering Dr. Maya Angelou, Mom-spiration

Not enough can be said about Dr. Maya Angelou and the impact she had upon the world and particularly this country in her 86 years of living.  She led a rich, full life and was an activist, actor, singer, dancer, writer, speaker, poet, teacher. ..the list goes on and on.  She was also a mom.  A mom who once wrote that "[t]he birth of my son caused me to develop enough courage to invent my life" (Letter to My Daughter).  It's pretty safe to say that Dr. Angelou was never fated to live an ordinary life, and by the time she was 42, she had already been an activist with the Civil Rights movement (working with both Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), traveled the world as an actor, worked in foreign countries, raised a son who was then a man who was 25 years old, and led a very full life.  What she had not yet done was publish I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings, the work she is now most famous for.  Had she not published that book and the many she would go on to publish afterwards and taken full advantage of the opportunities that arose from them, it is likely that while she would have been a rich person in history and a colorful friend/mentor to those lucky enough to be around her, she would not be the iconic voice of wisdom that she became and that we lost last week.  It is awe-inspiring to me that much of her success was due, she believed, to her experience of raising her son, Guy.

Much is made of the way motherhood takes us "away" from who we are and what we want to accomplish.  We do "sacrifice" a lot, particularly to the early years of parenting, however, there is also inspiration and motivation and reinvention inherent in being a mother that was, perhaps, too emphasized in the past and not mentioned enough now.  Now that we know how many years we were fated to have Dr. Angelou, I suppose it is only natural to wonder how much better off we all might have been if we could have had those first 42 years she spent with a semi-private life (I mean, how private can I really call the life of a performer and dedicated humanitarian and civil rights activist?).  However, much of those years were spent experiencing what would become the material for her writing and her life's work. She was raising her son into manhood, and she was also raising herself beyond the limitations she never knew she had placed on herself before learning who she really wanted and deserved to be (and also who Guy deserved her to be).

I wonder if, during those years, she felt many of the frustrations I feel as a mother of young children.  How many books did she compose in her head only to lack the time to write them down?  How much of her wise counsel to the world was lost in  a world of scraped knees, stomachaches, and sleepless nights?  I can't even seem to get my weekly blog done on time, not from lack of ideas, but from lack of opportunity to get my ideas down.  Entire novels have been born, flourished, and died from lack of time (and increasingly) lack of talent.  My fiction skills are rusty from lack of use.  The metaphorical number two pencil in my brain has a cracking, dried eraser and a broken tip.   I am not comparing myself to Dr. Angelou who clearly surpasses me in all things, but I am drawing a parallel between the life a woman leads while parenting young children and the life she can lead once her children are grown.  I don't think Dr. Angelou would disagree with me as she writes in one of her autobiographies, it was only after her son grew up and said to her, "I love you, Mom.  Maybe now you'll have a chance to grow up" (The Heart of a Woman) that she felt released to really focus solely who she wanted to be and what she wanted to accomplish (much of which was for the benefit of us all).

The truth is that Dr. Angelou might have been able to be more productive (incredible thought!  a woman who was so productive could have produced even more!) had she never been a mother, but who she was and what she had to say might not have been as wise.  She let being a mother not only define her, but also refine her into the woman we would all grow to love after she was in her forties.  I am no Dr. Angelou, but I am inspired by her.  I know there are women out there who do it all and I am inspired by them, too, but I'll bet if I talked to those who I think are "doing it all," I will learn that they feel that they are not doing everything as well as they would like, either.  I do not know how much time I will have on this earth and if I had to make a choice between raising my young sons or honing my skills into be a great writer, I will choose my sons because the experiences I am having raising them and learning from them are making me a better person and (I hope) making them better people, too.  However, it is my hope that I am not choosing one over the other, but rather choosing one first and then the other.  I am taking the chance that while my skills may be getting rusty that I am keeping as sharp as I can with the writing I do manage to accomplish (as flawed and rife with embarrassing typos such as it is) and, more importantly, I am using my experience as a mother to grow as a human being and to develop a wiser, kinder, and sharper mind.  God willing, I, too, will have a second act in me and I will get all of the cobwebs and dust out of my mind and begin to write again perhaps better than I ever did before because of all my sons and family have given me to experience.  Not all of us can be a Dr. Angelou, but all of us can learn and be inspired by her and the way she used motherhood to inspire her to be a better person.

Rest in peace, Dr. Angelou.  You were a mother, friend, and teacher to us all.
Thanks for reading,
Shawna

4 comments:

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

Pelatih Harap Federer Bisa Temukan Performa Terbaik Usai Cedera

http://www.football-images.net/2014-08-01/0ddb38821c7d2b5ddba266feb91402a1.jpg
Agen Bola Terpercaya indo11.com melaporkan, Petenis, Roger Federer masih terus bekerja keras berlatih bersama Stefan Edberg setelah dibekap cedera yang membuat penampilannya menurun. Meski tahun ini belum berbicara banyak, namun optimis tinggi terus ditebar Edberg meski penampilan petenis asal Swiss itu terus menurun.

"Ia kembali bermain tenis dengan baik. Cara dia bermain sekarang itu cukup baik dan sebagai orang yang berada luar di lapangan, saya percaya hal itu," ucap pelatih berusia 48 tahun itu.

Federer mengalami cedera punggung sejak akhir musim lalu. Sejak awal musim ini pun penampilannya tertatih-tatih diberbagai ajang yang diikutinya.Tahun ini, Federer hanya mampu menang di ajang ATP Dubai Championship, Jerman Master dan jadi runner up Wimbledon 2014 lalu setelah dikalahkan Novak Djokovic.

Hal tersebut sangat kontras jika melihat catatan gemilang Federer beberapa tahun silam. Mantan petenis nomor satu dunia itu pun disebut sang pelatih, Edberg akan segera menemukan permainan terbaiknya kembali. Namun sikap sabar pelatih yang juga mantan petenis nomor satu dunia itu juga disertai harapan Federer bisa dengan sendiri memperbaiki penampilannya.

"Seperti yang kami semua tahu Roger memiliki musim yang sangat sulit tahun lalu. Ia berjuang secara fisik dengan punggungnya tapi ia telah ikut serta dalam banyak turnamen selama sembilan bulan terakhir. Saya pikir dia sekarang fit dan lebih baik dari sebelumnya," harap pria asal Swedia ini.

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

Arsenal dan Dortmund Sebenarnya Sudah Sepakat Untuk Reus

http://www.football-images.net/2014-08-01/13de367fa6dcc035f22d06800b7d27bf.jpg
Agen Bola Terpercaya indo11.com melaporkan, Sebuah laporan mengejutkan diturunkan terkait rumor transfer gelandang Borussia Dortmund, Marco Reus. Jurnalis kawakan asal Spanyol, Kike Marin menyebut bahwa Reus sejatinya sudah hampir gabung dengan klub Premier League, Arsenal.

Deal sudah hampir terwujud setelah kesepakatan harga 35 juta Euro dicapai oleh kedua klub. Namun cedera ligamen engkel yang cukup parah menghantam Reus pada bulan Juni, membuat deal transfer tersebut berantakan.

Cedera tersebut didapat Reus saat membela Jerman dalam laga uji coba jelang Piala Dunia 2014. Akibat cedera itu, pemain 25 tahun tersebut juga terpaksa absen dari skuat Der Panzer yang keluar sebagai juara dunia di Brasil.

Karena transfer Reus urung terlaksana, pihak The Gunners pun akhirnya membidik sasaran lain. Incaran yang berhasil digaet akhirnya adalah striker Barcelona, Alexis Sanchez. Kini Reus tengah dikaitkan dengan rumor menuju klub Premier League lainnya, Manchester United.

Aesd 11 said... [Reply to comment]


Gerrard Sempat Cegah Suarez Pindah ke Arsenal

http://www.football-images.net/2014-08-01/218e0f29f49409931f4434e08ce63b68.jpg
Agen Bola Terpercaya indo11.com melaporkan, Kapten Liverpool, Steven Gerrard mengeluarkan pernyataan yang cukup panas untuk telinga fans Arsenal. Hal tersebut dikemukakannya saat berbicara mengenai kepindahan striker The Reds, Luis Suarez menuju Barcelona.

Gerrard menyebut bahwa kepindahan El Pistolero ke Camp Nou bukanlah hal yang bisa dicegah. Meski sedih, namun pria yang baru saja pensiun dari Timnas Inggris ini mengaku bahwa akan lebih baik bagi Suarez untuk pindah ke Barca alih-alih Arsenal.

Lebih jauh, pria 34 tahun ini mengakui bahwa ia pernah melarang Suarez untuk menerima pinangan Arsenal. Hal tersebut dilakukan Gerrard pada musim panas lalu, saat The Gunners sempat memberikan penawaran resmi kepada striker asal Uruguay tersebut.

“Musim panas tahun lalu saat Luis berlatih seorang diri, saya berkata kepadanya agar jangan mau pindah ke Arsenal. Saya akan sangat sedih dan kecewa jika sampai hal itu terjadi,” ungkap Gerrard.

“Dengan segala respek untuk mereka, saya katakan kepada Luis bahwa ia terlalu bagus untuk Arsenal. Saya berkata bahwa jika dia mampu mencetak 30 gol untuk kami dan memenangkan penghargaan pemain terbaik, Barca atau Madrid akan datang meminangnya.”

Unknown said... [Reply to comment]

Agen Sbobet With the inclusion of the results found by those selling the existing players, the Blues finally bring in some new players that have enabled them to build a good team this season, with names such as Cesc Fabregas, Drogba, Loic Remy and Diego Costa at Stamford Bridge, expenditure and intake are worth, according to the view of Mourinho.

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