African-American writing is directly and indirectly intertwined with the legacy of American slavery. Phillis Wheatley and Frederick Douglas both come from backgrounds of slavery and bondage. The trials that these authors had to face are ones I could not imagine going through. They were able to overcome adversity and allow their desire to write prevail. Similar experiences did not constitute the way they express themselves. Phillis Wheatley`s poem “On being brought from Africa to America,” offers a religious perspective towards slavery and African slaves, while the Smithsonian`s National Museum of African American History Culture`s artifact of Frederick Douglas`s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, a self-written memoir, approaches slavery from a political and civil rights perspective. Wheatley believed that slavery was the issue that prevented the colonists from achieving true heroism.
careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words… it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times. Special is the individual who will take the time to encourage another.
A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, he examined it.
He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, “How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns? Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and just before it was ready to bloom… it died.
So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth, grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects.
We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.
Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns of another, and find the rose within them.
This is one of the characteristic of love… to look at a person, know their true faults and accepting that person into your life… all the while recognizing the nobility in their soul. Help others to realize they can overcome their faults. If we show them the “rose” within themselves, they will conquer their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over
