MAYA ANGELOU SAT ME DOWN 18 YEARS AGO and told me I had a mission to fulfill…It was the Power of Women event in Toronto, created from a dream I had written in my journal at 25 years old. A dream of bringing together great minds from different walks of life and putting them on one stage, for one day, to inspire and teach those of us who dreamed of making a difference. Maya was one of my speakers. She took me aside back stage and told me to sit down because she wanted to speak with me. When Maya Angelo says she wants to talk to you, YOU LISTENED!...She then told me I had a gift and a mission and that it was my responsibility to fulfill that. She told me I was special, she saw something guided in me and that the world needed what I had to give. I was all of 28 years old at the time. I don’t think I slept for days after! She commanded attention! I understood in that moment why Oprah Winfrey had bowed down to her and held her in such regard. She was Awe-inspiring! There was something in you that knew she was speaking from a Higher Power and it humbled me to my knees! Maya, the journey has been hard! I keep a brave face but the world is very rough on those with a gentle soul. Your love, your writings and what you have taught us, so many of us, lives forever in us and if I have any influence, it will live beyond me in my children! I know we must all leave this life eventually but it is not without great sadness that I let you go! We lost another great woman some years back, another woman that was a Power of Women speaker, Benazir Bhutto. She too was a gift. She called me her “soul sister” and I could never get my head around how she could say such a thing! After all she had endured so much, she had been the Prime minister of Pakistan…A woman! We talked about her witnessing the execution of her father, about her hiding her pregnancy when she was up for election. And her greatest sadness…that she could not be a regular mother! She always knew that she would be a “mark”. She told me this, and when I asked her how she lived with this reality, she said it was her destiny!...When the news broke that she was running for re-election I wept uncontrollably for 20 minutes. When asked why I was so upset, I said, “because they will kill her and she is such a beautiful soul”....She signed up for this “destiny” knowing, that she would most likely give her life for the cause. Her bravery and commitment is overwhelming to me. Tonight, I must give pause…As tears roll down my face for these great women we have lost, I find myself inspired by them. I ask myself, how much am I willing to give? How hard is my journey compared to theirs (NOT) and I realize that I…WE…all stand upon their shoulders! When we rise to our purpose, when we push through what is hard, when others judge but we still continue in the face of criticism because we are committed to the good of humanity, we honor those who have been so brave and so big as Maya Angelo and Benazir Bhutto. Thank you for all that you have been, the example you have set and the selfless way you lived your lives!....Godspeed and may joy and love follow you in your journey!
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 03:40:17 +0000
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