Power of Mind and Positive Thinking

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

in this interview Maya Angelou tells about her son's accident and

subsequent recovery. I had posted this more than a year ago on HS,

to share what I think is an inspiring story, and am reposting it now

in hopes that those who are facing problems or adversity of any kind

might find it inspiring, too. My apologies for the oversize length.

Michael

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>From " The Feminine Face of God: The Unfolding of the Sacred in

Women." (Bantam Books 1991). By Sherry Ruth Anderson and Patricia

Hopkins. The authors interviewed women all over America to compile a

picture of their relationships with the Divine - including methods of

prayer found to be most helpful.

We asked author and poet Maya Angelou about prayer when we spoke with

her at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she is

Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. She was

thoughtful for several moments before replying, "My grandmother had

two special songs that she used to sing all the time, and they are

special to me as well." And in a soft, deep voice she began to sing,

" 'My Father is rich in houses and land. Holds the wealth of the

world in His hands. His coffers are filled with silver and gold, my

Father has riches, He has riches untold. I'm a child of the King.....

 

"If it is true that I am a child of the King," she continued, "I don't

believe my Father expects me to beg. I don't see that. It doesn't

follow. I'm trying to be a loving child of God, a dutiful and, in the

best sense, obedient child. I mean I blow it all the time, but God

knows my intention, my willingness, so I don't think it follows that

all this energy, all this might, needs me to beg. No, I don't believe

that. It just doesn't compute. I believe I am to ask, but not to beg."

 

And "ask" is just what Maya did when she learned that Guy, her only

child, was scheduled to have emergency surgery for complications

arising from a broken neck he had sustained in an accident several

years earlier. "I went directly to San Francisco to be with Guy. As

soon as surgery got under way early the next morning, I drove out to

Mission Dolores and I prayed. I had gone there before in a time of

trouble - when I was pregnant with Guy and needed help to be allowed

to enroll late in a summer school program so that I could finish my

high school education. I had prayed before the statue of Mary then

and my prayers were answered. Now I was praying for the life of my

son.

"When I got back to the hospital six hours later, Guy's doctor was

waiting for me. 'Success,' he said. It was the word I most wanted to

hear. I immediately called my sister to tell her the good news. Guy

woke up shortly after that. It was late afternoon by then, and

everything seemed fine. I stayed around the hospital talking with him

and then went back to my hotel. At midnight the doctor called me. 'Ms.

Angelou,' he said, ,we're losing Guy. We've got him back in surgery

and we're losing him. You stay there and we'll call you.'

"Of course, I could not stay in the hotel. I went directly to the

hospital, but I didn't go to the surgical floor. Instead, I went to

the floor where his room was, and I walked the hall. I walked along

past all those half-opened doors, and at times while I was walking I

would suddenly feel I was standing on wet sand that was sifting out

from under my feet. Then I'd say: 'Grab your life. Hold on to it.

Hold on.' Loud. For three hours I walked and talked. Then I felt

solid.

"The doctors came up from surgery. 'Ms. Angelou,' they said, we're

sorry. He's alive, but he's paralyzed from his neck down.' I

whispered, 'I see. I see.' I went down to the intensive care unit and

paced in and out waiting for my son to wake up. By seven a.m. he was

awake, and I went in and stood looking down at him. Tubes were coming

from everywhere. 'Mother,' he said, 'the thing I most feared has

happened. I'm paralyzed.'

" 'It would seem so,' I answered.

" I am your only child,' he continued, 'and I know that you love me,

but I refuse to live as a talking head. If there's no chance for

recovery, I want to ask you to do something that no one should ever

have to ask a mother.' The tears were just rolling down his face. 'If

there's no chance for me to recover, please pull the plug and let me

go.'

" 'In that case,' I said, 'total recovery, I see total recovery. I see

you walking, standing, playing basketball, and swimming. Now quit it

right now. I mean it.' That's what I said. Guy started laughing. He

said, 'Mother, please control yourself. There are some very sick

people in here.'

"The doctors came to talk with me. They said, 'Ms. Angelou, Guy has

had a blood clot sitting on his spinal cord for eight hours. The cord

is so delicate that we don't dare breathe on it. He will never be able

to move.'

"I said, ' I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. My son will walk out

of this hospital and I thank God for it - now!'

"One of the doctors started to say, 'We all have to...'

"And I said, 'You can't tell me. I'm going somewhere so far, so beyond

you, you're not even in it!' And every hour after that I'd say, 'Total

recovery. I thank You for it. I'm claiming it for this boy. Thank You.

Total recovery.'

"The next two days were busy. I called Dolly McPherson, my chosen

sister, and she got the whole prayer group at my church together. We

had a Jewish sister-friend, and she called people from her synagogue.

A Catholic friend called the people she knew in her parish. 'Go

everybody, go,' I said. 'Do what you can do.'

"The second night, I was lying on a couch in the ICU waiting room when

a nurse came in. She said, 'Ms. Angelou, Guy's moved his toes.'

Together we walked to Guy's room. She reached over and pulled the

blanket off his feet and Guy moved his toes. I said, 'Thank You, God.

Didn't I ask You for it and didn't You give it to me. Thank You for

it. Thank You, God.'

"The next morning when I went in to see Guy he said, 'Mama, thank you

for your faith. I'll walk out of the hospital.'

"And that is exactly what he did a few months later. I know that

prayer changes things. I know. I don't question. I know."