Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / Celebrating Dr. Maya Angelou | Episode #381

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Celebrating Dr. Maya Angelou | Episode #381 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

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Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your Life Count.
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I'm your host, Doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, international leadership expert and trusted
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advisor. Welcome to Legacy Living, Make Your Life Count. I'm delighted that
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you joined me today. Today's episode honors and pays tribute to doctor Maya Angelo.
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Now most of us know doctor Angelo is an amazing poet and writer.
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Well, she is both and so much more. Before I delve into today's
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episode, I want to express my gratitude to you and tell you a little
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bit about what legacy is all about and why it's so important to me and
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I hope for you as well. First my gratitudes, I also say that
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if you get gratitude right, you know what, If you get gratitude right,
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you get the rest for free. So here we go. I want
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to give a big thank you to those of you who are listening in today.
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I also want to give a great big shout out to all of you
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listening all around the world. I'm delighted and so grateful that you tuned in.
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I sure hope you're enjoying a fabulous day today and that you're having a
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fantastic week, because you know what, in the grand song of the universe,
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life is very short. It's short and sweet and very precious. So
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I hope you're making a difference in your own life, because when you do,
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you also make a difference in someone else's life. Now, a lot
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of us, a lot of folks, really want to make their life count
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for something, but they don't know how to do it, or it seems
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so big, they don't know where to begin. So they ask me,
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doctor Gloria, how do you do that? How do you make your life
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count? It's very simple, very simple. You make your life count day
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by day, step by step, moment by moment, every single day three
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sixty five, twenty four to seven. You make your life count by being
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there for someone who needs the pleasing friend fragrance of your presence, by the
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simple loving things you do for someone, by being an uplifter and encourager,
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by taking a walk with someone you love, by making dinner or selecting a
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beautiful bouquet of flowers. Maybe you bake a batch of cookies for your neighbor's
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kids, or you call your mom or visit her and then you hold her
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hand in yours, even when she no longer knows your name after a day
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of teaching, or when he knows I've been facilitating a retreat maybe for several
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days, or I'm with a client that's particularly busy for me. My husband
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will run a warm bath for me, just because that's right. Just because
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it's not my birthday or Valentine's Day or Mother's Day, he does it for
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me just because you make a difference by being great for who you are,
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being grateful for your family and friends, and by counting your blessings. And
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we can go beyond simply counting our blessings. We can go beyond by being
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a blessing. I remember a time when I was leading a course for a
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group of executives, all kinds of leaders in the public sector. So there
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were policemen, firefighters, agency directors, city council members, school board leaders,
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executive directors and nonprofits and in philanthropic organizations, leaders in the military,
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and leaders who work with our youth. Now this was their very last class
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in a two year executive leadership program. And my class, this very last
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class, was all about legacy. Now, I have a different take on
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legacy than most people in Western culture. I mean you know the drill.
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Legacy is what this show is all about, right, Legacy living. We
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create legacy every single moment, every single day. So it's not about waiting
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until the very end of our life or you know, waiting until we are
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about to retire to think about our legacy. We actually create our legacy every
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single day, every text, message, every Instagram Okay, all of those
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make a difference. So, like I said, legacy in this class for
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leaders, this particular class was all about legacy. So you know what we
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did. I had them share stories. That's right. I had them share
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stories about someone or something near and dear to their hearts. My oh my,
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I just want to tell you they shared deeply and passionately about why they
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were called to be public servants, about why they were called to be servant
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leaders. I mean, their stories were absolutely powerful. Now, this group
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of leaders had been together in the same program and the same cohort for twenty
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one months now that's nearly two years, and through the stories they shared,
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they were now learning stuff about one another that they hadn't heard before twenty one
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months. Imagine that, And they hadn't heard this stuff before, so they
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were hearing these incredible stories about one another's lives. You know what, sometimes
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we just need to hit the pause button. We just need to hit pause.
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Sit across the table from someone, pour a cup of tea or a
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cup of coffee, and just listen, Just listen to their story. That's
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exactly how we could make a difference in somebody else's life. That's another way
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to do it right. Murial Orkiser is one of my favorite poets, and
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she reminds us that the world is not made up of atoms. Oh no,
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it is not made up of atoms. It is made up of stories.
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Don't you just love that the world is not made up of atoms.
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It is made up of stories. That's what legacy living, Make your Life
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Count is all about. You can learn more about legacy living Make your Life
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Count by visiting my website that's the Gloria Burgess website, or by visiting me
7:38
on Facebook or LinkedIn. You can also find me on the TEDx site and
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listen to one of my ted talks. Just type in my name to find
7:47
me there. And if you want to receive my weekly inspirations again, go
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to my website that's the Gloria Burgess website. Scroll down just a little bit
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and look on the right right hand side and simply put your email address in
8:03
that little box in the sidebar and click submit. It's that simple. And
8:09
what you're signing up for is a weekly inspirational quote along with a beautiful image
8:13
so you can get yourself off to a fabulous, inspiring day and week.
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Again, go to my website, scroll down just a little bit, look
8:24
on the right hand side, and simply put your email address in that little
8:28
box and click submit. It's that easy. My website again is Gloriaburgess dot
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com. Right, okay, very easy. All right, So today's episode
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honors doctor Maya Angelo, and again most of us know her as an amazing
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poet and writer, but did you also know that she was an actress,
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a director, a filmmaker, a humanitarian, and so much more. As
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many of you know, during the month of February in the United States we
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celebrate Black History Month. Well you know me, I celebrate the lives of
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all people, no matter who they are, and I like to celebrate the
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lives of all people, and especially the soulful lives of African Americans. Black
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lives every single day, not just during February. But every single day three
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sixty five, twenty four to seven. So who is Maya Angelo? Well,
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as I mentioned a few moments ago, professionally, she was a poet,
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a writer, and actor, director, filmmaker, humanitarian, and she
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was also an amazing human being. I had the privilege and honor of meeting
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doctor Angelo a number of years ago when she was in the Seattle area.
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I met her through a mutual friend, doctor Maxine Memes, amazing African American
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elder. Now, when I first met Miss Maya in person, I was
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fascinated by her, her manner, by her presence. Now, She's worn
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many many hats, including that of an actor, and I had come to
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see her perform. My friend took me backstage after Maya's performance. I really
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loved that she looked me directly in the eye as she spoke. Like so
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many folks in my own family, she was plain spoken and very straightforward,
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no beating around the bush with her. In many ways, she reminded me
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of my mom and a multitude of elders in my community. Throughout my life,
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I have heard many people say that I remind them of Maya Angelo.
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Now, even though I've heard this often enough I'm still surprised when someone says
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it. Why because I think I sound like me, not like anybody else.
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Right now, perhaps I do sound a bit like her. I don't
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know. After all, I was raised by folks who could just as well
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have raised Miss Maya. Being with Miss Angelo backstage after her inspiring performance was
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quite the adventure, and I must admit it actually felt a little spooky.
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Not only did she remind me of the many elders in my own family and
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in my church, the folks in the community I grew up in the community
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of folks I call my personal village, being with her backstage was kind of
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like looking in a mirror because Doctor Maya also reminded me of myself. The
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words she used during our conversation, the words she uses in her poems,
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the cadence of her voice. From my meeting with Doctor As I could actually
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imagine her as one of the many folks in my own community. The way
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she sat, the way she stood, the way she walked, the way
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she sang, the way she reached for my hand, her seriousness, her
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laughter, her earnestness, all of it. I could even imagine myself sitting
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at the same table with her breaking bread together, laughing and joking about good
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times while we were digging into some collared greens, black eyed peas and cornbread.
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So today we are paying tribute. We're talking about and lifting up doctor
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Maya Angelo. Now our focus is legacy. Today's episode is all about legacy,
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as we honor doctor Maya. My focus today is to pay tribute as
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well as lift up this prolific human being. Now, the best way to
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introduce my Angelo is not by sharing her many many many accolades and awards in
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prizes. Not by sharing where she taught, or how many films, musicals
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and plays she was in or directed, or how many books she wrote,
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books of poetry, memoirs and so much more. Oh No, the best
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way to introduce my Angelo is through her own words, through her own poetry
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and prose. This is a woman who stood her ground. This is a
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woman who would not be moved. And I'm gonna say hallelujah and thank goodness
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for that. Her voice, and I'm talking about her actual voice. Now,
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that low contralto, the tone, the color, the weight of her
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voice had the gravitas that made you sit up straight. Her voice embraced you
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with a certainty, with a lived sense of knowing, with the assured wisdom
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of life overflowing with the marvelous blessings of lessons learned. Hers was a voice
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that said, I have been around the block, not once, not twice,
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not even thrice, but I have been around the block and inside a
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few rooms, up a few staircases, and down into a few basements,
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and I know some things. Yeah, yes, I know a few things
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up in here. My Angelo's voice, with that clarity of catence and presence
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of purpose, her actual voice and her literary voice, is certainly a voice
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to be reckoned, with a voice for the ages. Today, in tribute,
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I will share her poetry and prose. Some of what I share will
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be familiar to you perhaps, and some may be totally new to you,
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as it was to me as I did my research for this particular show.
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So I invite you to grab a cup of tea or coffee, or cool
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glass of water or lemonade, or put on your walking shoes, lace them
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up and grab your earbuts, we are going to have a good time today.
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Here is one of Miss Maya's poems. It is one of my favorites.
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This poem is called Still I rise, Still I rise. You may
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write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies, you may tread
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me in the very dirt, But still like dust, I'll rise. Does
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my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? Because I walk
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like I've got oil wells pumping in my living room, just like moons,
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and like suns with a certain of tides, just like hopes springing high.
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Still I'll rise? Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and
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lowered eyes, shoulders falling down like teardrops weakened by my soulful cries? Does
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my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard? Because I laugh
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like I've got gold mines digging in my own backyard. You may shoot me
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with your words, you may cut me with your eyes. You may kill
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me with your hatefulness, But still like air, I'll rise. Does my
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sexess upset you? Does it come as a surprise that I dance like I've
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got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs out of the huts of history's shame,
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I rise up from a past that's rooted in pain. I rise.
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I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, willing and swelling. I bear
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in the tide, leaving behind nights of terror and fear. I rise into
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a daybreak that's wondrously clear. I rise, bringing the gifts that my ancestors
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gave. I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise,
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I Rise, I rise Now. I just love this poem for so
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many reasons. I think the most significant reason is because it is a story
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in the voice of a woman who will not be moved. And two,
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it tells a story in a voice of a people, a people that will
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not be moved, A story about a people who will not give up,
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who will not give in, a people who refuse to be defined by somebody
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else's definition of who they ought to be. In her forward to Brian Lanker's
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beautiful book called I Dream a World, Doctor Angelo writes sublimely, superbly about
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black women, which is the singular focus of this book. It is all
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about black women who will not be moved. Now, paradoxically in their determination,
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in their steadfastness, their abiding stance of not being moved, these black
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women became movers in their own right, movers and shakers. In fact,
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the subtitle to I Dream a World is portraits of Black Women who Changed America.
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I'm going to repeat that in case you want to write it down.
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The title I Dream a World and the subtitle is portraits of Black Women who
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Changed America. Now, I want you to imagine, if you will,
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an oversized book, a book that's almost square, and when you open its
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pages, there you will see absolutely exquisite photos, all of them shot and
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rendered in black and white. Photos of Black women who changed the world.
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Who changed the world of their own personal villages and the communities in which they
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were born, raised, and came of age. Black women who also changed
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the larger world into which they were thrust, or the larger world they chose
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on their own terms. On the opposite page, the facing page, is
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a narrative, words from each woman's own mouth, words that paint a picture
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of her life. Words that paint a picture of her work, her family,
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her struggles, her loves, her hopes, her joys, her dealing
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with barriers and obstacles, and ultimately, words that paint a vivid picture of
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her victories and triumphs. This book, I Dream a World was published in
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nineteen eighty nine. When I bought it. I recognized many of the names
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now, some I became familiar with only after reading the narratives and looking into
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the eyes of the women who looked back at me from the pages. Even
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now, I keep this book on my coffee table. I continue to be
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inspired by these amazing women, inspired by their lives, and inspired by their
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perseverance and by their impact. You will surely recognize some of the names of
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the women in this book actors and athletes, singers and civil rights leaders,
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politicians and political activists. Names that have become part of the larger history of
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America. Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Lena Horne, Shirley Chisholm,
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Fanny Lou Hamer, Alice Walker, Angela Davis, Tony Morrison, Leontine Price,
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Marian Anderson, Merley Evers, Barbara Jordan, Odetta Ruby, d Gwendolyn
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Brooks. Some names you may not recognize, and yet these women change the
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game within their sphere of influence and sometimes far beyond. Sonya Sanchez, Catherine
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Dunham, Eva Jesse, Janetta, Cole b Richards, Ernestine Anderson, Willie
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may Ford Smith, Betty Shabaz, Wilma Rudolph doctor Alexa Kennedy, Septima p
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Clark. To call their names is a blessing to sing the sweet music of
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their names as a litany, A perfumed prayer that carries the luscious scent of
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gardena honeysuckle, night blooming, jasmine, magnolia, tuber rose. It is
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a prayer carry aloft, a prayer lifted up to the heavens, carried on
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the wings of raven, eagle and dove. It is a holiness lifted up
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in rooms filled with the sweet remembrance of breaking bread together, shouting, wailing,
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calling on the name of Jesus, and falling on our knees. It
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is the pipe drift of cherry tobacco, lifted onto the breezes of dawn and
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again at dusk. It is a prayer lifted up in honor of the red
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clay roads we have trod to arrive here, to arrive here in the present,
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A prayer lifted up to bless the road ahead, as we look into
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the heavens and behold the bright, shining guiding star that lights the way to
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our luminous future. What a blessing to call the names of these women who
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have built roads and bridges who have cleared paths and broken new ground for me,
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for us, for all of us, and for our children. Doctor
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may Angelo is one of those names. She is one of the women featured
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in I Dream a World. Her powerful prose is also featured in the forward.
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In her own words, this truth teller says Black women whose ancestors were
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brought to the United States beginning in sixteen nineteen, have lived through conditions of
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crew louelties so horrible, so bizarre, the women had to reinvent themselves.
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They had to find safety and sanctity inside themselves or they would not have been
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able to tolerate their tortuous lives. They had to learn to be self forgiving
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quickly, for often their exterior exploits were at odds with their interior beliefs.
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Still, they had to survive as holy and healthily as possible in an infectious
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and sick climate. Miss Maya goes on to say, lives lived in such
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cauldrons are either obliterated or forged into impenetrable alloys. Thus, early on and
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consciously, black women as reality became possibilities only to themselves. To others.
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They were mostly seen and described in the abstract, concrete in their labor,
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but surreal in their humanness. Can I just tell you something. What Maya
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is saying here continues even today, sad but true. I can certainly relate
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to what she is saying here. I was born in rural Mississippi at a
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time when Jim Crow laws had been outlawed, taken off the books. Those
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horrible, cruel laws were gone. They were no longer valid. Now they
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were supposed to govern, to rule the behaviors of folks in the South.
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But in reality, life was still lived as if these abominable laws were still
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in full and furious force. So you might say, well, that was
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then, this is now. Yes, you're right, that was then and
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this is now. Not too long ago, I was teaching. I was
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ministering to a cohort of executive leaders. These leaders have been called to become
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public servants. These people were called to serve you. Hear me. Right
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in that room were a handful of people of color. Two of them were
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African American. I shared my own story about being born in Mississippi and having
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come of age during the turbulence of the Civil rights movement. I want you
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to hear me now, I want you to get this to a person.
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All the people of color had a similar story. Some of them were born
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and raised as second, third, and fourth generation immigrants. Okay, yet
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we all shared a story, similar story about having to become possibilities to ourselves
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because mainstream culture does not recognize or validate us. Now, slowly, surely
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this is changing, but in many places, we're still treated as though we
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are invisible, still treated as if we do not exist, Still treated as
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if we are a blip on a page, a blip on a screen,
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one that can be easily obscured and sometimes just erased. Altogether, I pinch
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myself every day because I get to work with folks like this as part of
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what I do as a teacher, as a businesswoman, as a creative artist,
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as a social artist, I get to make a difference in their lives.
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Now, I have something to tell you about doctor Angelo. Years ago,
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when I first started studying her poems in her life, she was my
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role model. At that time in my life, I didn't know how to
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describe my own work. Well, that's not totally true. I did know
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how to describe it, but I didn't know how to describe it in a
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way where other folks could deal with me. You see, I was working
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in high tech. Yes, imagine me working in corporate America. I did
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that for twenty three years. In fact, I was the highest ranking African
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American female executive when I left corporate okay and started my own company. Now
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these days, I am an executive, coach, speaker, trainer, facilitator,
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and organizational consultant. And I know that God has a sense of humor.
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How do I know that because when I look back in my life and
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my life experience, he put me in the wilderness, in the desert,
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on the raging White River so that I could learn what I needed to know
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in order to do the work I'm doing now. How cool is that?
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God is so amazing? So we have time for another poem by Miss Maya.
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This poem is called Caged Bird. Caged Bird. In this poem,
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she borrows from another great soul and poet. She borrows images and metaphors.
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Even the central image of the caged bird she borrows from a poem called Sympathy
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by Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Doctor Angelo's poem is called caged Bird. The free
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bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends,
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and dips his wings in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the
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sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through
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his bars of rage. His wings are clipped and his feet are tied,
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so opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with fearful trill of
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the things unknown but longed for. Still, his tune is heard on the
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distant hill. For the caged bird sings of freedom. The free bird thinks
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of another breeze, and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the
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fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn, and he names the sky his
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own. But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams. His shadow
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shouts on a nightmare scream. His wings are clipped and his feet are tied,
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so he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a
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fearful trill of things unknown but longed for Still, and his tune is heard
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on a distant hill. For the caged bird sings of freedom. Now this
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image, this metaphor of the caged bird, appears again in Maya's first autobiographical
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book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which I like to think of
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as a poem told in prose. William Carlos Williams reminds us it is difficult
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to get the news from poems, though, men, and i'd say women
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too, die miserably every day for lack of what is found there. Miss
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Maya's poems remind me that inside of every hoem is a bit of news,
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news that shines the light on what it means to be human. Thank you,
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thank you, doctor Maya Angelo. Today we celebrate you, We celebrate
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the majestic music of your life, and we express our deep, deep gratitude.
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We thank you for showing us what legacy living is all about. Now,
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as you know, I love to celebrate black lives, Black history every
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single day, three sixty five, twenty four to seven. Now, if
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you missed last week's episode or any part of this week's you can listen to
36:52
the recording at your convenience. You can even listen to it on the go.
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You can find me right here on iTunes, Audible, Alexa, SoundCloud,
37:05
iHeart, tune in, Spreaker, dot Com, Talk Network, Radio,
37:09
and so many other places. Before I close, today, I want
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to thank each of you for tuning in, for allowing me to share a
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bit about my journey with what legacy living is all about, not just living
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and learning, but living and learning and serving so that you make a difference
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in your own life and in the lives of others. It's about being on
37:35
purpose every single day. Three sixty five twenty four seven. Legacy living is
37:43
a powerful way to make your life count. I'm your host, doctor Gloria
37:49
Gloria Burgess, and this has been Legacy living. Make your life count.
37:54
Please join me again next time right here for another show of legacy living.
38:01
Make your life count. Don't just count the days in your life, Make
38:12
the days in your life count. That's what legacy living is all about.
38:17
Have a fantastic day, and remember, make the days in your life count.
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God bless you. That's our show today. I'm your host, doctor
38:43
Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll join me again next time. Until then,
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don't just count the days in your life, Make the days in your
38:54
life count. That's what legacy living is all about. Here's to you have
39:01
a fantastic day and be sure to make it a yes kind of day.
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Remember to celebrate the music of your life. Make the days in your life count