Maya Angelou (http://www.poetrygrrrl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/491.jpg (N/A))

(http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/2/26/1235659732816/Maya-Angelou-001.jpg (N/A))

 Life is constantly giving us struggles to battle, leaving us with no choice to be anything else but strong. Maya Angelou's strength started being tested at an early age, influencing her auto biographical works. "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (1970) is about Marguerite Johnson and her brother Bailey growing up in Arkansas. It chronicles Angelou's life up to age sixteen, providing a child's perspective of the perplexing world of adults. Although her grandmother instilled pride and confidence in her, her self-image was shattered when she was raped at the age of eight by her mother's boyfriend. Angelou was so devastated by the attack that she refused to speak for approximately five years. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings concludes with Angelou having regained self-esteem and caring for her newborn son, Guy." (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Maya Angelou's life up to age sixteen was hard enough as it is, facing the obstacles and prejudice of blacks and whites. Arkansas was a slave state, and her and her family had to maintain strength. The world is a tough place, and her grandmother knew the key was having confidence and pride in what you are. She consistently taught Maya that, building up a solid base in her immersed with strength. Maya's first test of strength occurred early in her life -leaving behind a silent struggle with herself for five years. After being raped at the age of eight, she was able to pull her torn and tattered self together long enough to build herself back up. Being able to move on after something so sickly devastating as that, is a measure of strength. While Maya had built her self-esteem back up, facing the world alone with her son Guy was just another struggle life thrust into her path. "As a young single mother, she supported her son by working as a waitress and cook, however her passion for music, dance, performance, and poetry would soon take center stage." (Maya Angelou the Official Website). It's hard to accomplish things when you have to keep someone else and their needs in mind -especially if it's up to you to do that alone. Maya was strong for having her son and taking care of him on her own. She raised him, and did a good job at that. She worked as a waitress and cook to provide for him and soon after her strength paid off as her heart found her a spot in the limelight. Life presents everyone with challenges to overcome; the bigger dilemma is finding that strength inside ourselves to pull us through and conquer it, instead of breaking down and giving up. Everyone deals with struggles differently. Maya Angelou's way of it was standing there, catching what life threw at her -and then throwing something back.

(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PtVT-DvvLzY/R5VuEUWPd_I/AAAAAAAACKA/_t8S59oK1YQ/s400/martin-luther-king.jpg (N/A))

Being able to stand up for something is something Maya Angelou embraced with courage, and open arms. There are many situations in which a person needs courage. For Maya Angelou, it was the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asked Dr. Angelou to serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King's assassination, falling on her birthday in 1968, left her devastated." (Maya Angelou the Official Website). The death of Martin Luther King Jr. contributes to reminding the world of how speaking out against something you believe in takes courage, and can even be deadly. Maya had courage to not only have the constant remembrance of her dear friends' death and sacrifice, but the courage to fight for equal rights in the first place -and then continue doing so. She had the courage to keep living, working, and helping. Angelou had the courage to want to change history, so that all the prejudice need not be relived. She stood up against it. She didn't care about who judged her, she just knew that it was the right thing to do. In society it takes courage to do that. Although Maya's actions were bold, her words were powerful and courageous too. "Angelou's autobiographical works has an important place in the African American tradition of personal narrative, and they continue to garner praise for their honesty and moving sense of dignity." (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Sharing of her autobiographical works is courageous; they share her own life experiences to the world. She had the courage to allow people, most whom she'd never met before, to take a look into her life. What she shared with us is the hurt and history of her past, as well as how she had to grow up with the stereotype and racism of being both a woman and an African American. Even growing up with those stereotypes takes tons of ounces of courage. I look up to people who possess the ability to do something that frightens them. People who take risks even though they don't know how it will turn out, just because they think its right, inspire me. Maya Angelou is someone who is built out of courage.

(http://www.alleewillis.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/maya-angelou-miss-calypso_1342.jpg (N/A))

All Dr. Angelou's experiences filled her with life lessons and wisdom. The events in her life have built up who she is. All of those struggles she faced with strength, all of the emotions and people she faced with courage. Her next step was spreading her wisdom from what she learned. "Angelou explained that she is not afraid of the ties between past and present. She cherishes them rather. ''It's the vulnerability... it's allowing oneself to be hypnotized. That's frightening because we have no defenses, nothing. We've slipped down the well and every side is slippery. And how on earth are you going to come out? That's scary. But I've chosen it, and I've chosen this mode as my mode.'" (M Angelou). Maya is saying that she's chosen to be vulnerable. She's scared and frightened, just like all of us. Maya knows we have truly nothing to protect us, that everything is a risk. So instead of living afraid of the risks, she's chosen to take them and make that jump into the well -even though it's possible she might never make it back out. It was her own experiences, her own reactions to whatever life threw at her -that made her so wise. "I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back." (M Angelou). Life is tough, and she knew that. Maya also knew exactly what it was to feel like the whole world was turned against you, and on top of that -how you could surprise life and overcome it. Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment -something Maya Angelou's undoubtedly got. Wisdom is something that can be passed down, something that can continually be held on to and remembered for. It can be taught and learned. Maya has left me books, and movies, and shows, and quotes, and actions -all to learn from. It's beautiful because the gift of wisdom, once acquired, can be used more than once. It is knowledge that never goes away.

(http://www.oprah.com/own-master-class/Maya-Angelous-Master-Class-Quotes (N/A))

Not many people come into this world and are able to speak so lucidly and with such feeling, but Maya Angelou was one of those rare people. Her ability to recognize and portray human emotions, ideas, and asses their struggles was phenomenal -her own courage, strength, and wisdom reaching out and touching dozens of people's hearts; mine included. Strength is what gets you through life, and thankfully Maya has plenty of that. It gets you over obstacles, through hard times, and allows you to grow. By fighting persistently, Maya got to amazing places and accomplished amazing things. Courage is another thing that not many ordinary people have -yet it's something that Maya Angelou has, and is part of what makes her stand out. Her ability to be courageous and speak out is a heroic trait indeed. Then again, it is Maya's wisdom that honestly moves me. It's something for me to learn from, for us to learn from, so we can try to get it right. It's in her words that will always be around, printed and typed in indelible ink and pixels. Maya has many reasons for which she is inspiring, and that is the reason for her being my hero. She inspires me in several fields, most importantly, in the field of life. Dr. Angelou is a person that you can never release from your heart, whether it's from researching her life story to simply reading a quote. She's made me realize that saying things and doing things can make a difference, but it's how you do it that can change someone's life altogether. When someone never forgets how you made them feel, you in your own way have become a hero. Let's learn from her while our time is ripe -make a change, be remembered. "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." (M Angelou).

Works Consulted