Caged Bird

     1. In Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou writes about a bird in a cage that sings a beautiful song. The song, however, is fearful and Angelou says that the caged bird sings of freedom. This means that the bird does not know of flight, or of making nest, or other bird like things, he only know how to sing, so he sings of a free life he wishes for. He sings for the freedom he could have outside of the bars of his cage. I understand this idea of being trapped and longing for a life outside of “here.” I sometimes feel like the caged bird, that there is a caged of things holding me back from what I truly want to do.

     3. When bad things come to control your life, the worst thing to do is to let them control your life. Angelou is right when she says that talking about bad dreams “gives them too much power.” The more you talk, and worry, and are anxious about a problem, the more it dictates your life. One of the greatest thing a person can do for themselves in tough situations is to take it his or her stride and trust that he or she will come out of the trial, for when they do, they will be more than conquerors. I live through this every day. My family does not understand that when they ask me about what’s going on and I say “okay,” I am trying not to give our situation power over my life. I do not want it to dictate who I am, how I am going to act, and how my life will be. A friend of my broke down when she learned her brother was sick. I do not want to be like her. I want to conquer this situation and not give more power than it is already demanding over my life.

     5. I do believe I could live some of my life just listening. There are times when I talk too little, and times where I talk too much, it really depends on the situation. To my family, I am the quiet one. In a crowd of vociferous aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma, I am almost soundless. But in a room of good friends who I know will actually care and listen to what is say, I am talkative. There are so many things to learn about life and people when you simply stop and listen. When I am with my friends, and people in general, I love listening to the stories and adventures of their past times. They open up a world of knowledge and understanding of how humans work and operate. It gives me the chance to learn from other peoples mistakes.

     7. I am the type of person who remembers a lot, maybe not everything, but it is still quite a bit (unless of course it is homework, but I am working on that). I think it is better this way because I can remember things from birthdays to silly stories to how a lawn mower is started to a person’s favorite foods. Right now, the time periods that are the clearest are high school and the “moments” I have had throughout. The ones that are the fuzziest are Junior High. I can’t ever seem to pick out distinct memories between 7th and 8th grade. I have the easiest time picking out happy and fun memories in life, it always seems more fun to remember the times where I was at my happiest. Though I do have one distinct uncomfortable memory of a kid whose family was good friends with mine kept following me around and trying to “impress” me with magic tricks until I just lied to him and told him it didn’t work. I was 12 and he was 15. I am still ashamed of lying to him even to this day.