Black History Month Essay

[manganimefan227]

It's late Black History Month but for religious reasons I have chosen to give up Anime until April . . .So coming here will be hard due to temptation. But I shall leave this essay, With thanks to my mother for helping me grammar-edit it. I'll let it explain itself . . .

SourcesOf quotes)

http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet...0022&bConts=59

And Woman's World Magazine.

The Gem with Wings

She started as a shining gem in a stormy world that only shed rain, ice, and thunder at those who were not accepted. Those who were tossed aside by the shallow human eyes which had no depth or heart to see past a simple outer shell. She was shattered by a phantom who comepletely ripped away her innocence and purity, leaving dull rusty deserted pieces. which she eventually picked up. The shining gem came back stronger and with wings and light that shines and touches the hearts of many. Angelou spent her childhood switching between her mother and her grandmother, while experiencing racial hatred and sexual abuse. Somehow she found the pride to talk again, became a singer, writer, dancer, and poet, all while fighting to maintain a strong sense of responsibility. To be a hero, one must have a time in their life when they are faced with a life changing obstacle that most likely threatens some part of them. One must cope with this situation, which may actually be multiple situations, be determined to not just get through it but to also better or inspire society when all is said and done, But one must not stop there. No, one keeps going. Keeping the same mind set, the morality they gain or had for the rest of their lives. Maya Angelou rose up from discriminating hatred and her shattered innocence and speech, to live a life with much adventure and risk worh taking, becoming a woman with alot of talent and spirit, a true act which inspires many to follow, a true hero.
      Maya Angelou influences people with her ways of coping with the struggles in her life. Being able to cope is necessary to be a hero because when one reaches  the big challenge that could make or break them , coping is like a cannon that leads one directly into the path of making something good out of themselves. Instead of immediately thinking along the lines of giving up when faced with a life changing obstacle, coping starts with at least considering a chance of hope that one will make it out of the situation better than before.  When she was only eight years old she was raped by her mother's boyfriend who was later killed by her uncles. "she felt responsible for his murder and decided [She] had to stop talking". While most would be permanently damaged psycologically, Ms. Angelou overcame her mute state and went on with her life. She didn't stay locked up and paranoid, she rose up and lived again. While others stop there and feel this alone would be enough to say that they lived a great life - not to say it wouldn't be - ,Ms. Angelou did not. She went on to inspire people with the story of her strength and courage. She wrote stories, poems, and plays that send out meaningful messages to people. She also proved that no matter what one goes through, they can, and with the right attitude, they will be able to trust and open up to those around them, themselves, and one day, to those they don't know. Also, when she gave birth to a child at sixteen.She worked very hard taking a variety of different jobs to support her baby. As a benefit to her perseverence , persistance to raise her son  ,and willingness to get out there, "Her multiple careers in the arts-singing, dancing, acting, and writing- have become  ways of  transcending her personal hates and fears, as well as proclaiming her black identity and pride". This contrasts to most  teen pregnancies that end up in conclusions such as abortion, regret,and/or abandonment.
      Angelou is also a very determined woman. Determination is part of being a hero since one must be determined to change one's self, after the large obstacle one goes through. Determined to learn during the journey of finding the solution to the obstacle, and determined to change the world after one completes their journey by telling their story to the world. In doing so, one inspire the rest of mankind, to give them the hope that they could overcome the same obstacle if faced by it. Maya Angelou wanted to "take a job and show the whole world that [she] was equal to [her] pride and greater than [her] pretensions" when she gave birth at age 16. Because of this she got several odd jobs starting with a record-setting as the first African American streetcar conductor. She had to go as far as convincing a lesbian couple that she was their manager. She was so determined to find love that no matter how many times or how quickly her marriages failed she kept searching for love. She once said " I will say how old I am [53] I will say how tall I am [six feet] but I will not say how many times I have been married, it might scare them off" Other women would simply just give up or feel they should stay single and no matter how lonely it got that they should lock themselves away from love. Maya Angelou is determined to find that eternal love, by taking all of the falls. She knows that love is the life's greatest achievement and it takes a fight and gosh darnit she's got some will power and a lot of effort to find it. Thus she has strong perseverence to not fail her child with the excuse of being a teen mom, to make that child proud and to keep searching for love despite her obstacles. This is one of her strongest points.
      Angelou has high inspiring morality. This in itself could argueably be the most important part of being a hero. For example, what if someone went through the process of dealing with their life changing expierience but in the end just rubbed in people's faces how bloody awesome he was just for doing that? It's like making the best chocolate cake but then drowning it in soy sauce, it adds a taste that is bad to the point of absolutely ruining what could have been a sensation. Fortunately Maya Angelou kept her cake clean and admirable by her good morality and her ongoing effort to really teach the world something while doing it. For example she once said "I rather you have a good mind than a cute behind" This quote can be taken in different ways. There's the semi obvious way of saying "Looks don't matter" and that you should focus a lot more on building character than wardrobe, unless it is done to show part of one's character through creativity.  One should keep a positive outlook, despite possibly being unattractive physically, and work on how to make their heart to heart mark on the world, instead of finding money to pay for plastic surgeries to, in the end, only have artifical attraction and nothing worth a heart paying attention to; or it can be taken as the official quote or motto for certain situations. This interpretation tells people they can be heros despite what judgements people go through, to keep going and do something to improve their world, and hopefully open their eyes to the imense beauty they have inside their hearts, because this is too a road to be a hero. Throughout the process of being a hero there is also a need for courage. Ms. Angelou teaches this as a close to home lesson, for her courage to speak again after five years of near silence. She once said " language is man's way of comunicating with his fellow man and it is language alone that separates him from lower animals" Here she is saying to never be afraid to speak, Never be afraid to step up to the mike and give the world one's life battle's speech. For if one chooses not to, if one chooses to be a quiet statue, whether its from a nasty inflicted scar or just because one is afraid to even try, one shall become a pawn in the world wide game of chess, simply moving when being told, suspected to be mindless, and shall be taken out immediately or rot away to nothing but barely markable dust, burried deep and unnoticed, a thought that wastes space the mind and that the mind fights to forget with the same wanting as the past and present lowlife scums with histories of inflicting their venom on society. 
                        Both of those parties made no benefit or recognizable     mark in this world, never have, never shall. 
      Maya Angelou has went through this journey, completing each step amazingly and remarkablly. She showed the world the true definition of a hero by word and by actions that shall forever be remembered. It is no wonder that Martin Luther King Jr. wanted her to have a leading position in the Civil Rights movement, and her being Oprah Winfrey's close friend and mentor. Ms. Angelou once said "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve this beauty". Well by understanding the whole definition of a hero as presented in this paper, one is required to see and understand these challenges and qualities in whoever that "butterfly" may be. They say "Life stinks" and everyone goes through things in their own lives that, in it's own way, can make all agree or relate to this statement and that's OK. The important thing is that nobody stops there and uses this as an excuse to not move on, because whenever those things happen, a caterpillar that is in their heart will start it's cocoon state. When one goes through the required changes and adjustments and has created a stable moral foundation from it, that is when the morphed creature breaks free, it's wings sprout on one's back and one becomes a beutiful butterfly for the world to know.

Thank you for listening!!