Maya Angelou's wisdom as a maternal role model for female leaders

¶ … Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou.. This essay will explore several key components of the book and incorporate those reflective thoughts as an education administrator. This work will explain how Angelou's work provides a maternal role model for many young women to follow and that her ideas ultimately transcend racial boundaries.

Female Role Models

Angelou's work is motherly advice that uses emotion and humor to touch the reader's heart and soul. This experience of reading the book gave me a since of relief in many ways. The varied and random topics contained in this work provide a wide selection of topics for the reader to delve themselves into and find some sort of alignment with their own value system and ethics. The strength of Angelou's words are rare for many females in today's society where most are resigned to extreme conditions of professionalism where the critical male and female aspects of leadership are harmoniously combined.

The format of the book serves as a collection of items that can be taken individually to apply to many different situations. They all serve to strengthen the female leader archetype and provide some sort of inspiration for the reader looking to find new solutions to old problems that have been in society for many decades. Angelou's ability to use race and her gender in a way that expresses the truth is what makes this work inspiring and uplifting in many ways. Angelou does not ignore the spirit in this work and connected with me at a deep and profound level When reading the truth as expressed by Angelou, a special feeling came over me that empowered me in a new way that expresses my innermost feminine qualities.

Highlights

One of the highlights of this book was her expressing her ideas on parenting. The need for a child's spirituality was highlighted in this early chapter and opened my eyes to my own development and my own ways of thinking. My reality was truly changes after reading this collection of sayings and quotes and the depth of this collection is a very good introductory piece to both Angelou's work and the work of Black Women Authors in general. The simplicity of the book also allows the reader to interject their own ideas about their own experiences onto Angelou's work rather seamlessly, creating a rich reading experience that will no doubt be repeated many times.

Applying The Lessons Learned

One important lesson that can be applied in my professional career as a principal, is that the need for tolerance and patience is ultimately necessary for children of all ages, genders and races. Angelou's stories are told through a certain cultural lens, but the truth in her words ring out that goes beyond race and culture. The truth is revealed in a way that can make applying some of these lessons into real life.

The main point Angelou creates is that we are here to help one another and by adding color to someone's gray day, a rainbow in the cloud is created to help ease the pain and suffering. Angelou never attempts to eliminate suffering, rather she celebrates humankind's ability to cooperate and overcome suffering together.

The differences between wisdom and understanding are ultimately revealed in this work as the subtle differences suggests that there is a difference between quality and quantity of knowledge. Applying knowledge, as Angelou would suggest, takes a keen sense of balance and harmony that is readily available in the psyche of a women. She wrote " African and Southern Black American Women can exude a charm which acts as a narcotic on their targets," (p.24). This suggests that it is within one's own power to change their situation, and challenges the reader to take control of their own destiny, regardless of gender or race.