I have a quote attached to my cork board right above my desk, and it reads:
“My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who you are, to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.”
—Maya Angelou
During my writing sessions, I often find my eyes wandering to this quote. It reminds me to write my truth. When I read an unfavorable review, this quote reminds me to keep on creating. When I receive an ugly email or a vicious note, this quote reminds me to continue being exactly who I am. When I feel alone, this quote bolsters me in my wilderness.
I had the privilege of hearing Maya Angelou speak when I was in college. In fact, I had the privilege of covering her speech for the student newspaper, which means I got to shake her hand and look in her eyes and be changed by this brief meeting. It was one of my favorite moments in life, because Angelou has always been a hero of mine. I’m sure she didn’t remember a 19-year-old girl after leaving the Texas State University campus, but I will remember that meeting for the rest of my life.
She was a pillar of beauty, strength, grace, forgiveness. She exuded love by her very being.
To be like her. To be courageous enough to be who I am, to astonish a mean world with acts of kindness. To simply continue.
How do we do this?
Someone much more skilled in the interview process than I was at 19 can help out here. Bill Moyers, an American journalist, once asked Angelou some vital questions:
Moyers: Do you belong anywhere?
Angelou: I haven’t yet.
Moyers: Do you belong to anyone?
Angelou: More and more. I mean, I belong to myself. I’m very proud of that. I am very concerned about how I look at Maya. I like Maya very much. I like the humor and courage very much. And when I find myself acting in a way that isn’t…that doesn’t please me—then I have to deal with that.
This is it. This is what I saw as an inexperienced 19-year-old, meeting Maya Angelou for the first time. This is what I saw all over her written works, which I have read and re-read over the course of my life. She belonged to herself. The whole world could come against her—and, in fact, it tried many times—and she would still stand on her two feet and say, “I am still here, continuing.”
Every day, when I drop my sons off at school, I hug them tightly and say, “Have a wonderful day. Remember who you are. Strong, kind, courageous, and mostly my son.” This is their mission: to continue being who they are.
Some things in this world don’t make the least bit of sense. People rail against the choices we make in our lives. Criticism knocks our knees out from under us. Circumstances beat us down. Life is hard. In a perfect life, cancer doesn’t come out of the blue and steal the seemingly endless future of someone you love. Hate mail doesn’t sail through the cyber waves. There is no violence.
But this is not a perfect world. Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to continue—continue loving, continue spreading kindness, continue being who we are.
But my wish, like Angelou’s, is for you to continue. Continue to be who you are, to shock—no, astonish—the world with your acts of kindness and mercy and grace. With your love.
This is how you will belong to yourself.
(Photo by John Baker on Unsplash)
