Maya Angelou… Let’s Celebrate Greatness

Still I Rise

Maya Angelou

(4 April 1928-28 May 2014)

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

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.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

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Image Driven... ID

When last did you walk out of the house and not care about what you were wearing?

What matters most to you, your own opinion of yourself or other people’s opinion of you?

Which relationships have you formed in your life that was not based on an image?

Do you value truth?

In history, the youth fought for freedom; the right to be heard and the liberty to live in harmony with each other. Now, that is over. The youth is still fighting but, for different reasons. The battle is no longer about the issues of living but, the issue of image.

This is a different battle altogether. The battlefield is now malls, schools, parties and other social based locations. Anyone with sense knows good and well that you do not go to war empty handed because that is a death wish. Weapons of this age are gadgets, labels, clothes, cars, social acquaintances and other factors that would elevate you on a social scale.

If you have not noticed, the way some people live is not to enrich themselves or others but, instead, it’s to enrich their image. We have turned everything into a matter about “me” and never “us”. Breaking News: Life does not revolve around an axis called “me”. There is more to life than image but, don’t get me wrong, image is important; it’s just not the most important thing in this life. There are so many other aspects of life you should look into. Learn something about yourself, teach yourself something new.

Keeping up an image can be so tiring, it takes up so much money and energy, it can easily turn into self-deception. The relationships that you have with people can easily fade away when they are bases upon the superficial. All cliques have some sort of “conditions” whether verbalized or not. Some require that you be rich, have a girlfriend/boyfriend, play sports, wear certain types of clothes, be plastic etc.… Have you ever thought of being in a clique that requires honesty, loyalty, being yourself, learning, appreciating life?

Image needs people to ‘put it on display’.

Where do you stand?

Apart from what you have led people to think about who you are;

apart from the places you have been;

apart from the friends that you have.

Who are you?

Can you stand in an empty world, alone, naked and be happy?

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