Maya Angelou

I have always had the misconception that life is infinite, that those alive who I admire who are out of my reach would one day be in my reach, and that there is plenty of time for everything. Yesterday, I was proven wrong. I should have known that there was a particular reason for my solemn evening. 

I saw a trend on Facebook, a little notation on the right side of my web browser that said 'Maya Angelou' - without reading any further, I was content for one that my main source of inspiration was being mentioned, atop all other things in the world, in a place where intellectual muses are usually overlooked. So I briefly revelled in that moment alone. Then, I read on, and I could literally feel my intellectual realm shatter inside me. All that I stood for, education-wise, was shaken with an internal earthquake that bounced off and away from the richter scale.

My one academic muse was dead. She had left the earth. She was gone. That was it, all she had worked for, all she had achieved, all the lives she had touched, it would now mean that it would not matter after the media has used it to their benefits, until an enthusiastic poetry teacher or educator or literary or historical genius dropped her name out of the blue, connecting it to the topic at hand, and her name would penetrate the ears of many and slip away, sticking only with a couple or a few students who will, not for long, focus on her name because they will feel that it will be best to return to the task at hand so as to pass and one day reach near the level of Maya Angelou's impact on the academic world.

Eighty-six years, and in those years she achieved more than what most cannot achieve had they lived thrice that amount. I am bothered. I am saddened. But above all, I am grateful. I never had the chance to meet her. I never had the chance to live up to my fullest potential so as to get some mere form of recognition from her, nor had I ever had the chance to write her a letter, all of which I should have done, and I wish I had done. Time slipped away. And upon looking for an address for contact, I have found these two things, both of which illustrate how quickly a chance can escape:

Sorry, the person you were looking for is no longer available, more like. I am grateful that I lived in a parallel world to her, so that at least I did not have to look in a mere history book to stumble upon her. I hold up high the values her work has nestled in me about my appearance, about my womanhood, about my curves and my femininity and my voice and how I can impact the world too, as a future educator.

I am grateful for Dr. Maya Angelou and her impact on the world and myself. And though I never had or ever will have the chance to show her my gratitude, I will always carry her story with me for future generations and I will always remember her many gifts.

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” 

- Dr. Maya Angelou