Latest / Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess / The Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks - Part 1 | Episode #486

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The Legacy of Gwendolyn Brooks - Part 1 | Episode #486 · Legacy Living with Dr. Gloria Burgess

• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to today's show, Legacy Living, Make Your
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Life Count. I'm your host, Doctor Gloria. Gloria Burgess, international
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: leadership expert and trusted advisor. Welcome to Legacy Living, Make
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: your Life Count. I'm so glad you join me today.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: I want to give a big thank you to those
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: of you who are listening. I also want to give
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: a great, big shout out to all of you listening
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: around the world. I'm delighted and so grateful that you
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: tuned in. I hope you are enjoying a fabulous day
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: today and that you're having a fantastic week, because, you
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: know what, in the grand song of the universe, life
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: is so very short. It's short, sweet and very precious.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: So I hope you're making a difference in your own
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: life because when you do, you also make a difference
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: in somebody else's life. Now, a lot of us, a
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: lot of folks really want their life to count for something,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: but they don't know how to do it, or they
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: don't know where to begin. So they ask me, doctor Gloria,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: how do you do that? How do you make your
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: life count? Well, it's really very simple, very simple. You
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: make your life count day by day, step by step,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: moment by moment, every single day, three sixty five twenty
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: four seven. Now, I'm going to say much more about
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: that later on, but right now it is time to
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: just relax and listen in. That's right, it's time to
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: hit the pause button. It's time for today's episode, which
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: is all about the power of one. Now, I want
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: you to imagine that we're in the same room. Ah
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: maybe it's your kitchen or living room, and I'm sitting
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: right across the table from you. I'm pouring you a
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: cup of tea or coffee, and we are about to
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: have a cup, a small cup, a dose of what matters.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: So again, today's focus is all about the power of one,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: the power of one person who can be the difference,
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: who makes the difference in someone else's life. Now, today's
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: episode is focused on one of my favorite people on
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the planet. Her name is Gwendolyn Brooks. Her life is
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: what legacy living make your life count is all about. Now,
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: most of us know miss Brooks as a marvelous poet.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I know her as a kind, gentle, smart, and fiercely
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: caring human being. For me, she was one person who
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: made a difference in my life. And you know how
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: some people, some folks just show up at just the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: right time in your life. Well, that's exactly what happened
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: for me, Miss Brooks, showed up and really made a
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: difference at a time in my life when I needed it. Now,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: I know all of you want to make a positive
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: difference in our world, to make your life count, to
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: make your life matter. But sometimes you're just kind of
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: scratching your head and you're not sure how to make
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: that happen. You might find yourself thinking, well, you know what,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I'm just one little person. What can I possibly do
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: to make a difference in my own or somebody else's life.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: It's kind of hard to understand just how much impact
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: one person can really have. Now, Fortunately, I've met many
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: people who've made a difference for me, many people who
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: showed up at just the right time, and that person
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: has made such a difference in that particular season of
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: my life. Now, sometimes the season was just for a minute,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: it was a very short season in my life, and
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: yet their impact rippled out far beyond them. The few
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: months or weeks, or or days or even a few
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: hours that I was graced by that person's presence Gwyendolen
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Brooks was one of those individuals who made a difference,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: who made a significant difference in my life. She was
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: there at just the right time, at just the right place,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: in just the right season of my life. In fact,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I had the good fortune to meet Miss Brooks not once,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: but twice, and on both occasions, although they were years apart,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: her impact on me was positively profound. Now I'm going
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: to share a bit about my life changing encounter with
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: her and the remarkable difference she made in my life.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: But first let me tell you more about this amazing
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: artist and poet and humanitarian. Gwendolen began writing and publishing
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: when she was very, very young. By the time she
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: was eleven years old, she had published four poems. That's
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: pretty impressive. Before she turned thirty, she achieved national acclaim
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: for her poems, a collection of poems called A Street
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: in Bronzeville A Street in Bronsville. In nineteen fifty, when
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Miss Brooks was thirty three years old, she became the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize. Now,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: she won this prestigious prize for her book of poems
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: called Annie Allen Gwyendolen Elizabeth Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: When she was still a baby, her family moved to
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: Chicago during the Great Migration. Miss Gwendolen remained in Chicago
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: for the rest of her life. Her writings reflect the
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: rhythms and melodies and cadences of her neighbors and her neighborhood.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Like so many African Americans coming of age during this
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: time in the United States, Miss Brooks experienced the bitter
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: sting of bigotry and racial prejudice. Her experiences shaped her
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: and they fortified her. In fact, her writing reflects the
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: social forces that prevailed at that particular time in the
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: United States. So who is Gwendolen Brooks? Now, I'm not
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: talking about her accomplishments. I'm asking who is this person?
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: As you might imagine, when I was doing the research
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: for this episode, I came across many publications that listed
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Miss Brooks's amazing achievements, But I found only a precious
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: few that captured the essence of the person, this unique
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: human being, and only a handful that captured the Gwendolen
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Brooks that I knew. Now I'm talking about Gwendolen Brooks.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: The woman, the woman who looked like she could be
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: one of my neighbors, the woman who was gentle yet fierce.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, this Gwendolen could have been one of my aunties.
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  Speaker 1: The woman who had a heart for young people, a
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: heart for school children and gang members who should have
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: been in school but whose lives were lived in the streets,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: A heart for those who lived their lives behind prison bars.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: This is the woman I knew, you see when I
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: heard her voice. When I heard her read her amazing poems,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: I realized Miss Gwendolen's voice could have been my voice.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: I mean, she echoed my love, my love for the sweet,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: sweet music of language, my love for the colorful, imaginative
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: music of words. She echoed my love for people, my
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: love for justice, not for justifew, but justice for all.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: My love for standing up for those we love, standing
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: with those who have no one else to stand with them.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: My love for.
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  Speaker 1: Telling stories of people who may not be able to
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: tell their own story. I met Gwendole and for the
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: very first time in a classroom. That's right, a classroom.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: I met her in my high school classroom in ann Arbor, Michigan,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: in mister Kerrigan's ap English class Right. I remember how
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: miss Gwendolen looked, how she stood. I even remember what
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: she had on her feet and on her head, right.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: I remember she had this little head rag on. You know,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: we call it a gailey, right, or a head rag
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: in the neighborhood, right. And she had these little kids
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: sneakers on with little white socks that rolled down, okay,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: like little anklets. And there in that classroom I heard
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: her read probably her most well known poem, a poem
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: called we Real Cool. And when she read that poem,
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: I thought, oh, oh, Mercy, oh, I want to do that.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: I want to write like her. I want to be
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: like her. Little did I know at that time in
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: my life that I actually could be her, I could
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: actually be a poet, a published poet at that In
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: part two of this podcast, I'm going to share that
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: poem with you, we Real Cool, the poem that opened
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: my eyes to my new realization that I could be
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: a published poet. Right now, I'm going to share part
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: of another poem, and this poem is called Negro Hero.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Miss Brooks wrote this poem during a time in our
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: history when those two words negrow hero, especially those two
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: words spoken side by side absolutely arrested us. Those words
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: spoken together stopped us dead in our tracks. Negro Hero.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: If she were still alive today, I don't think miss
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Brooks would be at all surprised that some of her
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: words are still quite arresting now. Before the poem begins,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: right after the title, Brooks writes that the poem is
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: to suggest a person by the name of Dorry Miller.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Dorry Miller, the Dorry Miller she writes about here is
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: an African American war hero in World War II. Miller
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: was a young kitchen attendant who went above and beyond
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: his station and over and above the call of duty.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: When the United States of America was attacked at Pearl Harbor,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: mister Miller was honored as a hero for his role
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: in taking up arms against Japanese soldiers. Here is the
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: opening verse, the very first stanza of Miss Brooks's poem,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Negro Hero. I had to kick their law into their
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: teeth in order to save them. However, I have heard
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: that sometimes you have to deal devilishly with drowning men
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: in order to swim them to shore, or they will
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: haul themselves and you to the trash and the fish
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: beneath When I think of this, I do not worry
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: about a few chipped teeth. I'm going to read that
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: stanza again. Now, remember this is to suggest this African
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  Speaker 1: American war hero from World War Two, Dory Miller Negro hero,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: I had to kick their law into their teeth in
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: order to save them. However, I have heard that sometimes
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: you have to deal devilishly with drowning men in order
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: to swim them to shore, or they will haul themselves
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: and you to the trash and the fish beneath. When
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: I think of this, I do not worry about a
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: few chipped teeth. So this poem demonstrates one of the
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: hallmarks of Gwendolen's poetry, and that's her ability to imaginatively
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: write from the point of view of somebody else. Now,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: somehow she's able to sense into another person's life, imagining
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: their thoughts, their feelings, their loves, their hatreds, their world.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: In poem after poem after poem, Brooks writes in her
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: signature style. Another one of my favorite poems is called
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: A Bronzeville Mother Loiter's in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi Mother
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: burns bacon. Yes, that's a title. A Bronzeville mother loiters
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: in Mississippi. Meanwhile, a Mississippi mother burns bacon. In this
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: exquisite narrative poem, Brooks brings us into a landscape of
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: the lives of two women who experience their own horrors.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: After the brutal murder of Emmett Till. Brooks says, I
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: couldn't have any rest until I wrote about that. I
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: couldn't rest until I had done something, done my kind
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: of something. Now, most folks who know about the history
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: of the United States know about the tragic killing of
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Emmett Till, a fourteen year old black boy. What you
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: may not know is that Miss Gwendolen had a son too,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: a son who at that time was also fourteen years old.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: And the way she wrote about Immit Til demonstrated her
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: exceptional writing and poetic skills, as well as her many
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: layers of emotional intelligence, as she portrays Carolyn Bryant's state
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: of mind after her husband's acquittal for Emmitt Till's murder.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Murdered by Miss Bryant's husband for allegedly making a pass
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: at her, Miss Brooks says, in writing poetry, you are
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: interested in condensation so you don't try to pull all
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: of a particular impression or inspiration onto a single page.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: You distill poetry is life distilled. In her writing, Miss
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Brooks draws her impressions and inspirations from everyday life, everyday life.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: As poet Elizabeth Alexander reminds us, it's hard. It's hard
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: to think about Gwendolen Brooks in the past tense right,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: for she seemed to focus her writing in response to
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: what is happening now. And so she's been dead now
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: for many years, but she still seems to be with
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: us even now. Miss Gwendolen here with us now. And
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: you know what, She shows up in many different ways.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: One of the most powerful ways she shows up is
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: through the voices of other poets. Now, let's just think
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: about this. We would not have a Lucille Clifton or
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: Nikki Finney, or a Rita Dove or Tiamba Jess or
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Cornelius Edy or toy Derricott or Elizabeth Alexander, Natasha Truthway, Hayes, Davis,
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: Kyle Dargan, Tara Bett's, Amanda Gorman, and I dare say
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: dozens of other poets African, American and otherwise we would
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: not have these poets or their poetries without Gwendolyn Brooks.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: That's the power of one person, the one person who
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: so impacts the lives of many, many, many people, and
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: the ripple effect is positively astounding. That's the power of
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: poetry in motion. Years ago, when I was working with
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: high school students, when they were in search of a
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: poet with a strong sense of narrative and a strong
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: sense of language, a wonderful, strong, powerful sense of imagery,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: of sight and sound and smell and touch, they would
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: inevitably turn to the poetry of Gwendolen Brooks. It was
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: in these poems that they learned about love, about tenderness, cruelty, compassion, hatred, perseverance, defeat, faithfulness, fear,
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: vainglory and victory. It was in Miss Gwendolen's poems that
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: my students learned about voice, the poet's voice as well
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: as her own voice. In another one of my podcasts,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: I pay a tribute to poet doctor Maya Angelo. I
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: share in that podcast that she could have been one
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: of my elders in the community. I grew up in
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: a community of folks I called my personal village. Well
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: you know what, the same is true about Gwendolyn Brooks.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Being in that classroom with her all those years ago,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: and then meeting her again at the Dodge Poetry Festival
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: just a few short months before she died. Or reading
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: her poems now is kind of like looking in a mirror.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: The words she uses in her poems, the words she
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: used during our conversation, that rich, resonant sound of her voice,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: her sense of humor layered with paradox and irony. The
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: way she hosted and treated people. I remember at the
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Dodge Festival there must have been one hundred and fifty
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: maybe two hundred people in line to have her sign
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: books or to simply say thank you.
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Some folks were there for more than that. They wanted
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: a conversation, right, They wanted a few brief sentences with
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: this queen of a woman. They wanted a small cup
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: of what matters well, you know what. No matter how
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: long the line or how long the wait, she treated
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: you as if you were the only person in line,
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the only person present among all those poetry loving souls.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: I also remember, from where I stood, way back in
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: the line, that Miss Brooks seemed to be pulling out
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: book after book from someplace near her chair. And I
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: also remember seeing her slip a book into the hands
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: of a number of people that she spoke with. Well,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: when it was my turn to have her sign my books,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: I noticed that the title of the book that she
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: kept pulling out of the little box beside her chair
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: was called Primmer for Blacks. And yes, she slipped one
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: of those books into my hand as well. Now I
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: don't recall she grabbed my hand, or if I grabbed hers,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: but I recall a moment when I had her hand
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: in mine, a moment in time that remains fresh and vivid.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: In that tent, holding her hand, in that tent filled
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: with people, I could actually imagine her as one of
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: the many people in my community. The way she smiled
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: like hot sunshine beaming down on red clay dirt, The
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: angle of her head, the way her eyes just seemed
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: to peer at you through her classes, the way she
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: sat that same little cloth on her head, the way
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: she reached for a book, The way she made you
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: feel like you were the only one in that big
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: old tent, the only one who she was content to
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: be with. In that moment, time stood still. Even now
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: as I recall that autumn evening in New Jersey. There
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: I am at the front of the line, alone with Gwendolene,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: alone in the midst of a crowd. Even now, I
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: can imagine myself in the same room with her, sitting
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: right next to her, at the same table, sharing stories,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: a cup of tea and a few good poems, laughing
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: and remembering good times as our plates steam with sweet potatoes,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: collared greens, and corn bread, the same kind of meal
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: she shared with one of her adoring mentors, Langston Hughes,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: another amazing poet whose impact on Gwendolen's life and my
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: own life was profound Even now, So Gwendolen, we lift
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: you up and we celebrate you. We celebrate you during
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: National Poetry Month and every single day. We celebrate you
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: from making the invisible visible, your compassionate artistry, and your
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: marvelous gifts of being awake to life and turning life
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: the good, the gracious, the ugly, the tragic into astonishing
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: works of art. To you, we express our deep, deep gratitude.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: We thank you for showing us the power of poetry
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: in motion and what the power of one person, of
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: one person who lives their life to make a difference
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: is all about. Now, that's exactly what we talked about earlier, right,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: and I promise to say more about how you can
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: make your life count. So here we go. You can
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: make your life count by being there for someone who
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: simply needs the sweet, precious fragrance of your press. All right,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: So what does that mean? Well, maybe they just need
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: you to listen. Maybe they just need you to listen
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: to them talk about their day or how their mom
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: is doing, or maybe they need to talk about their
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: relationship with their thirteen year old son or daughter and
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: they don't want to just talk with anybody. What they
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: really need is you. Why Because you listen, You listen
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: with a smile in your heart. You listen without having
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: to jump in and give advice. You listen because you
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: really care. You can make your life count by the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: simple loving things you do for someone else. You could
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: make your wife a couple of her favorite tea, not
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: because she asked you to, but because you know it's
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: her favorite and because you know her love language. Or
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: maybe you put on her favorite music. Or maybe you
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: go for a nice long walk with her, not because
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: you need the exercise, right, but you go just because
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: because you love her. You can make your life count
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: by taking fifteen or twenty minutes, thirty minutes to go
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: through your closet this week, right, maybe today, and you
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: can pull out your gently used shirts or blouses, you're
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: gently used sweaters and slacks and fold them and take
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: them to your local goodwill or thrift store. There's somebody
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: out there who needs those gently used clothes. You can
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: take whatever extra money you have to buy some food, right,
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: a few extra cans of peas or beans or rice
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: to donate to your local food bank. You can read
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: a story to a child. Did you know that to
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: a little girl or boy? Attention is spelled l O
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: v E. To make a difference, you don't have to
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: do anything fancy or extraordinary. You don't have to wear
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: a cape, you know, be a superheroin or a superhero.
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: You just have to have a heart full of love
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: and you simply serve people without any expectation of return.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: You could pick a handful of fresh herbs from your
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: deck or your garden and give them to a neighbor. Hey,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: you can bake a batch of cookies and take them
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: to a nursing home. Okay, and be sure to give
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: some to your mom when you visit her, be sure
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: to give some to the staff. Also, you could call
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: a friend just because. And when you write a note
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: to someone, be sure to include a few stamps or
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: a bag of tea. My sister calls my mom every
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: day just to say hello and to tell her how
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: much she loves her. When I call my mom, I
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: love to sing songs with her, the song she sang
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: as a little girl. Now sometimes she can't remember my name,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: but she remembers those songs. And sometimes I read to
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: my mom because she loves stories, she loves to hear scripture,
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: she loves to pray. Right, So what's my point? Simply this,
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: You can make a difference with what you already have.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: You can make a difference by showing up as who
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: you are day by day, every day of your life.
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: You make a difference by being grateful for who you are,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: being grateful for family, for friends, for neighbors, for co workers,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: by counting your blessings. And we can go beyond simply
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: counting our blessings by being a blessing. Not too long ago,
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I was teaching a class. This was a class for
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: leaders who want to take their faith into their work,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: not as pastors or rabbis. These leaders want to take
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: their faith into the nonprofit sector, into the education sector,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: right into the corporate sector, into the civic sector. Now
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: these people, these leaders work as police officers and firefighters,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: as agency directors in mental health, as leaders on our
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: school boards. They are leaders in the military. They're educators
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: who work with our youth. Now, all of these folks
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: are all about making a difference. I say all of
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: this because, just like you and me, sometimes they get
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: so focused on making a difference in someone else's life,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: guess what they tend to forget about themselves. That's what
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: happens when you're focused on serving, when you're focused on
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: passing it on, when you're focused on giving back. So,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: if you're like me, born to serve, we must remember
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: that one of the best ways to make a difference
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: is to take good care of yourself first, so that
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: you can serve with a healthy body, mind, and soul.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: How we live is how we serve, right. How we
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: live is how we serve or teach, or parent or
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: lead in any aspect of our lives. So let's remember
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: to take good care of ourselves every single day. Three
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: sixty five twenty four seven. All right, now, if you
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: missed any part of this week's episode, you can listen
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: to the recording at your convenience. You can even listen
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: on the go. Check us out at www. Dot talknetwork
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: Radio dot com. That's www. Dot Talknetwork Radio dot com.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: And remember to put this at the end of dot
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  Speaker 1: com Forward Slash Hosts, Forward Slash Legacy Living. Got it
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: all right, Www Dot talknetwork Radio dot com. Forward Slash Hosts,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Forward Slash Legacy Living. If you want to be the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: change you seek, be sure to listen to this podcast
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: again and again and again, and be sure to tell somebody.
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: You can find me on iTunes, Audible, Alexa, SoundCloud, iHeart,
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• 34:03
  Speaker 1: Legacy Living. Make your life count by visiting the Gloria
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Burgess website. That's g L O R I A. Gloria
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Burgess b U R G E S S dot com. Now,
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: as I've mentioned before, if you love to be inspired,
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: you can subscribe to my inspirations right on my website.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: You just scroll down a little bit look on the
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  Speaker 1: email address to subscribe to my weekly inspirations. It's that simple.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: Each week you get a lovely photograph and a very
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: short quotation that inspires you. You can also find me
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: on LinkedIn or Facebook, and on Facebook you can find
• 34:51
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• 34:55
  Speaker 1: for doctor Dr Gloria Burgess, pH d d forward slash.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: You can also hear and see me by visiting the
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• 35:10
  Speaker 1: All right, so just type in my name to find
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: me there.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: Before I close today, I want to thank each of
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: you once again for tuning in for allowing me to
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: share a bit about my journey with what Legacy living
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: is all about, not just living and learning, but living
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: and learning and serving so that you make a difference
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: in your own life and in the lives of others.
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: It's about being on purpose, being on purpose every single day.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: Three sixty five twenty four seven. Legacy Living is a
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: powerful way to make your life count. I'm your host,
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess, and this has been Legacy Living.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Make your life count. Please join me again next time
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: for another episode of Legacy living. Make your life count now.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Don't just count the days in your life. Make the
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: days in your life count. That's what legacy living is
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: all about. Have a fantastic day and remember make the
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: days in your life count. God bless that's our show today.
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, Doctor Gloria Gloria Burgess. I hope you'll
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: join me again next time. Until then, don't just count
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: the days in your life. Make the days in your
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: life count. That's what legacy living is all about. Here's
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: to you.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: Have a fantastic day and be sure to make it
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: a yes kind of day. Remember to celebrate the music
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: of your life. Make the days in your life count.