Mayo Angelou was more than a poet, more than a teacher or an author.  Her insights on life, love and facing the challenges in life qualify her as oracle in her time.  When we consider the great thinkers of the past, we often hear lofty challenges to self-sacrifice and reckless abandon.  Their calls to action beckon us to risk all, give all in pursuit of our dreams.  There are desperate, challenging times that ask this of each of us if we want to survive, or demand it of us if we expect to thrive.  But it’s not always Olympic grade challenges that we’re called to face in the critical moments of life.  Some days the problems are simply one day bigger, one month larger, or one year grander in their intensity.  So how do you handle those challenges?

Each of us is on our own journey.  Much of Maya Angelou’s writings reflect this perspective.  Based upon our position along the path of that journey, our skills, gifts, and wisdom reflect our strengths and our experience to that point.  Ms Angelou once said,  “I did then what I knew to do.  Now that I know better, I do better”.   Life truly is our greatest teacher, and it’s lessons are eternal.  The real question we face is this… Will we learn the lessons as they come so that we can “do better” the next time, or will we refuse to listen, learn and make the changes we need to become the change agents the world needs?

“A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.”  Muhammad Ali
Do you know better now than you did thirty years ago?  I hope so.  Are you viewing the world, are you acting on the world differently than you did thirty years ago?  The world hopes so.

So make the choice.  You know better… so do better.  Be a Champion!

What advice would you give someone about learning from our past, and making the best choices in life in the present?

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