Maya Angelou Questions

Colin Harper

Maya Angelou Questions

2. The "Universal human power to triumph over adversity" is a tricky concept. Do I believe I have that power? I'm not so sure. I'm sure of it's existence, because it can be seen everyday. The news is filled with stories of people overcoming adversity. I read an article yesterday about a boy who wrestles with no legs. That is a tremendous display of overcoming adversity. I'm not so sure I have that power though, because I have not yet faced very much adversity. I have grown up in a loving home, with great parents, went to a good school, and lived a pretty adversity-free life so far. Maybe some day I will hit a major roadblock, and then I will find out what I'm truly made of. Until then, I won't know if I sincerely have the ability to overcome serious adversity.

3. I am a strong believer that something can only have power once it has been given power. For example, curse words. A nasty four letter word could have easily been substituted with a word like "sandwich". Maybe in the creation of a curse word someone yelled "Sandwich!" instead of the replacement word. Then everyone from that point on until now would bear a negative connotation when someone said sandwich. The order of syllables forming the words doesn't bear any power at all. It is the fact that people give them power that makes them different from any other word. Also, the feeding into gossip and drama makes those things have more power. If one of my friends make a joke about me, and I laugh and don't care, then that will be the end of it. However, if I become offended, they will laugh and continue to make the joke. I gave the joke power because of my reaction to it. Without my negative reaction, the joke bears no power. It's a simple case of cause and effect.

5. Speech is a powerful thing. Most of the information a person collects about another comes through the things they hear another person say. I seem to have moments where I am silent, and others where I probably should be silent, but am not. I feel like I generally do talk a little bit too much. There is a verse in the Bible that talks about being "Slow to speak and quick to listen". I think that that can hold a lot of relevance in nearly anyone's life. One of my good friends rarely speaks, and when she does, it is very faint, and usually very short. She just recently told me that she wishes she would've taken more risks and spoken up more before she went to college. In some cases, it is better to speak less and listen more, but in others, the opposite is true. Someone has to speak for others at some point.

7. My memory is something that I pride myself on. I have an unusually good recollection of events and information in my head. I like to think of my brain as a storage folder where everything that goes in is carefully placed somewhere where I can pull it out and analyze it whenever I need too. Except for math formulas. I never remember those. When asked if it is better to remember a lot or nearly nothing, I think it is much better to have a strong memory. Even is your brain is filled with bad memories, it is important that you remember them because every memory you have is exactly what makes you, you. Another simple case of cause and effect. Every decision you make (or think you make) is really just the culmination of every memory and piece of stimuli your body has. Without a memory to inform you of which decision you would like to make in any situation, you would be like a baby, acting purely on survival instinct. For example, you touched a stove as a small child because you didn't know stoves were hot. Now two years later, that child won't touch the stove because it remembers that it was hot. That decision is based off of the child's knowledge and memory that stoves are hot. I believe that having a good memory allows you to assess all your options and  make the best choice in a given situation.

8. "There's a world of difference between truth and fact". That is a great quote, and it happens to be correct as well. Everything that anyone knows is based upon what they have been told, and what they have been exposed too. Not everything that people think they know is true, it cannot be this way because if it was, then everyone would always agree. I can say that 2+2=4, and someone might argue that 2+2=5. It may be truth in that person's mind that the problem equals five, but it isn't fact. Truth can be relative, whereas fact cannot. If I asked someone in 2005 whether Pluto was a planet or not, they would say yes. To them, it would be a truth. However, with my knowledge that it is not, it would not be a fact. What is a truth for someone may not be for another. Facts remain constant.