(5/5)
She has always been an inspiration in so many ways. Her ‘Phenomenal Woman‘ and ‘Still I Rise‘ are such liberating pieces of poetry.
“Letter to my Daughter” is a collection of short essays through which Maya Angelou wishes to address the daughters she could never have, with little nuggets of wisdom that she found useful in her own life. She shares various anecdotes, sometimes with hilarious undertones and sometimes with blunt viciousness.
Raised by two strong and level-headed women, Maya Angelou herself makes for a feisty, daring woman – one who never let her vulnerability overcome her quest for living life bold and fullest.
She talks about humility, about giving back, about fighting it out, about making someone else smile, about appreciating, about gratitude, about being free. She also speaks about her opinion on ‘rape’, about how attributing it to a power struggle trivializes the sexual violation that it actually represents. She speaks about independence and self-reliance, about her equation with her mother and how mutual respect is all that is required for two people to survive one relation. She speaks about violence and sarcasm and vulgar humor, about how indulgence in offensive humor makes us complicit in oppression of the already weaker sections of the society, about how taking little stands can go a long way for someone else. She speaks about love and faith in the tenderest possible manner.
My favorite chapter was the one called “In Self Defense”. Angelou recounts an incident about how a white woman tried to bully her and put her in place and how she had to stand up for herself because sometimes you must. You must decide where to draw the lines. You must decide where to not give in to irrational bullying. You must be able to stand up in self defense because you’d not always have someone to stand up for you. You must come to your own rescue.
There is a particularly sensitive chapter on death where she reminisces her friends and her special bond with Coretta Scott King and I’d like to quote from that chapter here –
“When I find myself filling with rage over the loss of a beloved, I try as soon as possible to remember that my concerns and questions should be focussed on what I learned or what I have yet to learn from my departed love. What legacy was left which can help me in the art of living a good life?
Did I learn to be kinder,
To be more patient,
And more generous,
More loving,
More ready to laugh,
And more easy to accept honest tears?
If I accept those legacies of my departed beloveds, I am able to say, Thank You to them for their love and Thank You to God for their lives”
In another chapter on National Spirit, she writes about America, of what it must mean to Americans, about how the educated should try to uplift the lesser privileged, in which she speaks about the necessity of intolerance towards vulgarity and more tolerance towards freedom. I believe through all my heart that what she says is befitting to any nation and it’s lovers. The feeling of nationalism should be an essence of humanity and compassion and an undying but not blind love for the nation, where disappointments are worked upon collectively to strengthen the belief in one’s country.
I found this little book, a package of healthy wisdom, not preached but lived through the phenomenon that was Maya Angelou, to be a beautiful and a heart-warming tribute to all the women who ever lived. A book meant for re-reads book for sure.
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