Angelia Vernon Menchan

Angelia Vernon Menchan is an author, publisher and public speaker who owns two publishing companies, MAMM Productions and Honorable Menchan Media. Mrs. Menchan is also a Budget Officer and former Job Corps Counselor. To date she has published twenty-three books of her own work, both fiction and non-fiction and more than eighty ebook novellas on amazon.com. You can access her bibliography on www.amazon.com search words: Angelia Vernon Menchan




Contact information:
Website: http://acvermen.blogspot.com
Email: acvermen@yahoo.com
Phone numbers: 904 714 2272 904 303 2679

Monday, February 18, 2008

Choices?

Young people are so good at cutting to the chase,
Breaking it down,
This weekend Maya Angelou spoke in Jacksonville, she has been moving through the state,
This month and considering her age, almost eighty, that is amazing,
She is one of my Sheroes...
Anyway as some of you know, she is backing Senator Clinton for president,
And that seems to have set many Black folks on edge,
Hadn't bothered me a bit,
I figure that if one can't choose what they want to do at eighty,
When can they...
This is what led me to the young person's angle...
I was talking to one of my kids and we talked about the issues of voting,
I was asked how I felt about Dr. Angelou's stance,
And I said what I said above,
We all have choices as to what we will or will not do,
And making them is personal,
They of course agreed, but wanted me to explain,
Why is it that "WE" want everyone to be like, think like, vote like, US...
I really couldn't give a clearly defined answer, other than to say,
That is usually how we have won or attained most things,
By banding together, otherwise it didn't happen...
I was then asked was it right...
I honestly answered, 'It's only right if it's where your heart and research leads you'...
I went on to say, 'It's hard to change minds, hearts or history and if a group mindset is what has driven you, it makes if difficult to at a minimum vocalize opposite opinions. No one wants to be considered a sell-out so many who don't agree remain silent. And sometimes many who are vocal do something entirely different once they cast a ballot. It takes enormous courage to do what works for you, particularly when the majority is doing something different."
He said, "That is peer pressure at it's worse..."
Umm Hmmm.
I told him that was one of the things that had endeared me to Dr. Angelou years ago, I had heard her say, (paraphrased), 'We must stand on the side of what we believe and is the right thing even if no one else supports us.' At the time she was talking about if we heard or saw someone do something that didn't feel right to us....such as making a racially or sexually insensitive remark...
And what I knew for sure, is that when she took her stance as to who she was supporting, she was doing that, from her own perspective, she was excercising her CHOICES....

Blessings,
angelia

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maya Angelou is one my sheros too. I met her my freshman year in high school and can say that she inspired me to be a writer. My writing "just because" increased after that meeting as well as my quest to learn as much as I could about our African American history.

The beauty of being an American is we have freedom of choice. We can support and vote for whoever we want to. I don't expect everyone to agree with my choices and I definately don't agree with everyone else's. I don't hold any grudge against someone just because they think differently than I do on a subject. It would be boring if we all thought alike. I respect her choices and I expect folks to respect mine.

Angelia Vernon Menchan said...

Amen, Sister Shelia, Amen...

Blessings,
angelia

Gwyneth Bolton said...

I love that you state if a person can't do what they want to do at 80 then when can they. That is a darn good point. We are all entitled to our choices and beliefs. And darn it an 80-year-old black woman in the US has paid enough dues to follow her own mind where ever it leads her. Even if it's leading her down the wrong path... LOL. Just playing.... ;-)

Gwyneth

Angelia Vernon Menchan said...

That's exactly my point Gwyneth, I may not agree with Dr. Angelou, but I sure do respect her right to choose, what gets me is how folks are saying they no longer respect or admire her because of her choices. I can't get my mind around that, because if one doesnt agree with another does that change who they are at the core...I would have to say absolutely not.

blessings,
angelia

Yasmin said...

I like Choices!
Go Obama!
xoxo
PS Gwyneth you are too funny!

Angelia Vernon Menchan said...

Yas,
we should all like choices, and respect others to make their own...

smooches,
angelia

Jennifer C. said...

I like choices. I have no problem with a person who can stand up and be a man or woman about the decisions they chose. If we all believed the same thing, or liked the same thing, does it make it right? Where does that leave a place for uniqueness? How am I different from everyone else? I have more respect for a person who can think and decide for themselves, than I do for a person being a robot or a parrot. Choices is good and to each his own.

Angelia Vernon Menchan said...

That's it Jen, the Freedom to allow others to be Free to choose...

blessings,
angelia