You’re Simply the Best

When poet/activist Maya Angelou was in Washington D.C. to address Congress on crime related issues, she candidly discussed how she had been raped at the age of eight.  Her pain was then exacerbated by the fact that shortly after her rapist was released on bond, some men in her community beat him to death.  Angelou then believed that she had caused the man’s death because she had reported the rape.  After the beating death, the terrified child did not speak for several years.  For Maya, the process of healing was a difficult one.

When she was in her late teens, while out walking with her mother, Angelou said her mother stopped, turned, and spoke these words to her: “Baby,” she said, looking the young women in the eye, “You know something?  I think you are the greatest woman I have ever known.  Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt, my mother, and you – and you are the greatest of them all.” 

Maya Angelou then boarded a streetcar with tears flowing down her face.  As she stared into the wood paneling, she thought to herself, “Suppose I really am somebody?” 

Blossoming from the girl who had spent so much time living in fear and silence, she became a brilliant poet and activist who would lecture passionately to congress over the issues she championed.  Eventually, the elderly, but still feisty Maya Angelou would stand before the entire nation and deliver a powerful opening address at President Clinton’s inauguration.    

It is a compelling moment when someone looks you in the eye and says, “I believe in you.”  Words like that make a person feel like they can conquer the world.  Pastor/author Chuck Swindoll once said, “My friends didn’t believe that I could become a successful speaker.  So, I did something about it.  I went out and found me some new friends.” 

Every one of us has had our fair share of defining moments.  The good news is that we don’t have to allow the burden of a painful past to shape and define who we are presently.  Neither do we have to allow an event from the past to steal from our adventure into the future. 

Maya Angelo demonstrated that perhaps the best way to handle painful moments from the past is to fight back by giving back.  It boils down to being the kind of person we want to be.

At CityLinC, our administration, our support staff, and our social workers aspire to be positive resources.  Each of us gives back in our own way.  We believe in Solomon’s directive in Proverbs 12:25 which states, “Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.” 

Leadership guru, John Maxwell said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”  My prayer this week is one of gratitude because I work in an environment where people truly care.  Everyone in our organization supports their clientele, and they work hard to help them make the kind of changes that will allow them to do better in life. 

We are CityLinC.  This is what we do.