If you don't stand for something...

You know the rest. "You'll fall for anything."

Sometimes you will stand alone. That's one of the lessons that I've learned this year. And guess what? I learned that I don't mind standing alone, as long as my decision sits well with MY soul - that's all that matters.

Now don't get me wrong, I've fallen for the "okey doke" on more occassions than I care to remember, but thankfully I think I've learned from my past mistakes.

There have been some pretty tempting opportunities presented to me this year. Opportunities that could have sky-rocketed my popularity and my finances. But the opportunities just didn't sit well with my soul.

I've been told that this is my M.O. anyway - to be invited to the king's (or queen's) table and decline the invitation. lol. And more often than not - they get offended that a pion such as I would dare decline their invitation - or worse yet come to the party, but leave midstream.

What they don't realize is that I serve the KING of kings and would rather be a pion in his court, than a queen or princess where his presence is stifled or not apparent. And no matter what, like Maya Angelou...I will still rise...


You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

May Angelou