Maya Angelou: A Phenomenal Being

How Dr. Maya Angelou’s words made their way into my world.

I’ve seen her several times on television, heard her recite lines of her poetry, read about her activism, and I know of most of her accomplishments. I am very familiar with her book, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing, but I've never read it and the reason why is not important. What is important to me is how Dr. Angelou shared her story of going after her dream, her dream of being a San Francisco streetcar conductor.

Are you living your dreams?

For the last several days my Facebook and Instagram feeds have been blowing up with images and quotes of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Most of the comments and messages are from Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream," speech which contains a list of inspirational dreams. Some of those dreams have manifested into something greater than I ever imagined. For example, I never thought that I would live to see the day that an African American would be elected as president, twice. 

Mahalia Jackson & MLK(bottom right) 

If Dr. King listened to his advisers who told him not to do the "I Have a Dream" speech for the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, I'm pretty sure the United States would be very different today. Good thing Dr. King listened to gospel singer Mahalia Jackson who shouted out: "Tell them about the dream, Martin!"  (YouTube clip of the speech below)