Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now by Maya Angelou was
a good book to help me feel more comfortable with my totals and with myself. It’s
a quick short read filled with lots of good things to think about to improve
your outlook about life and in some cases about diversity and race.
I’ve been both holding onto the Maya Angelou book and
wanting to read it. It came from a mixture of knowing that it was likely to be
an easy, quick read and I enjoy her. So I wanted to save it for a week for
where I spent more time reading a book then I probably should have. This week seemed as good as any (while I enjoyed Spindle’s End, it’s just not comfortable to
start a book on a Friday night).
I will have to say I misjudged Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My
Journey Now. I glanced at the book and just assumed that it was another poetry
book by Maya Angelou since besides her autobiography I Know Why The Cage Bird
Sings, she’s known for her poetry. I
wasn’t disappointed to see it was short essays filled talking about morality,
manners, and even diversity.
Most the essays, I loved. It was good to see her talking
about things I care about. There are many circumstances that she discussed that
I thought were timeless and can help everyone just to remember the simple
truths.
I’m not always a fan of using the race card. There were a
few essays where Maya Angelou was great at saying we need to revel in diversity
and realize that races are different but good.
As the essays when on, there were a few moments when it became a little too
much about race where it becomes more of a line in the sand without true
understanding. I’m not sure if it’s
because in the end I don’t see race but I do see social/cultural differences
thanks to years of travel and moving or if it’s just a generational thing since
Maya Angelou was raised when race was a much larger issue then it is today. In
some ways, the gay/lesbian/transgender debate is replacing the race debate from
previous decades.
No comments:
Post a Comment