Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter

2/4/17 07:31

I know what you’re thinking.  We’re like two old friends who sit across from one another over a beer.  We haven’t seen each other for a few months.  It’s good to catch up, but there gets to be a point in the conversation when the breaks and the silence seeps in and we smile aware of the spreading distance.  I’ll help to make you more comfortable and do what I can to bring you back.  It’s the way life works. Some of us move on and we return searching for the familiar reassurance; we are alright.  Aren’t we?  Let me get this off my chest.  Was I disappointed with the results of the last election?  Absolutely and I am reminded of this most days.  It’s like a nightmare we are living through, but this struggle will continue for years.  Being the eternal optimist, I have already heard and seen the progress.  We are making our voices heard.  Instead of focusing on that here and now, I want you to know that I am alright.  I’ve removed myself from Facebook, but not in an official way.  I’ve tried this before and like a gnat, the FB continues to come back to remind me of its existence.  I am on Twitter, but scroll through most of the advertisements.  I’m focused on sending out query letters for my new novel and Ali and Amanda have helped immensely with editing both the manuscript as well as the letter.  I was sending letters and receiving minimal responses, and knew there was something amiss.  Ali caught the spelling errors and streamlined the summary.  I am reading more.  I’m struggling through Wicked by Gregory Maguire, this is my third attempt and yet I will get through it.  Still waiting for the “controversial” scene which is the reason why I am painfully getting through it.  Not my style of writing.  There I said it.  Last weekend Amanda was home and I read Maya Angelou’s Letter to My Daughter.  The book itself was not a letter nor did she have a daughter, but it was a series of essays on her life and living a virtuous life.  When I think of her work, I think of Amanda.  Here are some quotes from the book which I hope you will read.

“…courage is the most important of all the virtues.”

I would recommend reading her essay from the book, National Spirit, “For the past four decades our national spirit and natural joy have ebbed.  Our national expectations have diminished.  Our hope for the future has waned to such a degree that we risk sneers and snorts of derision when we confess that we are hoping for a brighter tomorrow.”

Thank you for reading this