I Am A Human Being
If a human being dares to be bigger than the condition into which she or he was born, it means so can you.
This video clip of the late Maya Angelou is from Oprah Winfrey’s Master Class series. In it, the esteemed American memoirist, poet and civil rights activist reveals insights into our common humanity that give rise to our human superpowers. Along with many poignant images of human endurance and transcendence, the video features the dove sculpture of the Peace Abbey’s “Courage of Conscience Award,” which Dr. Angelou received “for her soaring inspiration to live life with intensity, integrity, and intelligence.” — Editor
Transcript
If I think of my life as a class, and what I’ve really learned, I’ve learned a few things. First, I’m aware that I’m a child of God. It’s such an amazing understanding to think that the “it” which made fleas and mountains and rivers and stars made me.
What I pray for is humility to know that there is something greater than I. Then I have to know that the brute, the bigot and the batterer are all children of God, whether they know it or not. And I am supposed to treat them accordingly. It’s hard, and I blow it all the time.
I like everybody to think of a statement by Terence: “I am a human being. Nothing human can be alien to me.” If you can internalize the least portion of that you will never be able to say of an act, a criminal act, “I couldn’t do that.” No matter how heinous a crime, if a human being did it, you have to say, “I have in me all the components that are in her or in him. I intend to use my energies constructively, as opposed to destructively.”
If you can do that about the negative, just think what you can do about the positive. If a human being dreams a great dream, dares to love somebody. If a human being dares to be Martin King or Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Teresa or Malcolm X. If a human being dares to be bigger than the condition into which she or he was born, it means so can you.
And so, you can try to stretch, stretch, stretch yourself. So, you can internalize “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto. I am a human being. Nothing human can be alien to me.”
That’s one thing I’m learning.
