Poetry

I was truly impressed and honored to have a chance to hear Alice Walker, one of the South’s most significant living writers, deliver a touching speech on Thursday night at the University of Pacific. Alice Walker begins by talking about the Black National Anthem. This song, she says, acknowledges the suffering of African American. She concludes that everyone in this world suffers, no matter what race you are, but the most important thing is to not give up and try to overcome whatever obstacles you are facing. She continues by talking about how her writings portray the struggle of black people throughout history and the brutality of rural black life, in particular the experiences of black women in a sexist and racist society. In her writings she like to prose alternations, show the realities and show how things are what they are, and that things happen for a reason. Walker wants everyone to acknowledge and properly respect that many African-American had endured incredible hardships in their efforts to survive in a hostile environment. Her most famous work, the award-winning and best-selling novel The Color Purple, chronicles the life of a poor and abused southern black woman who eventually triumphs over oppression through affirmin

She explains that when she was seventeen she sat in front of the bus on her way to Atlanta, Georgia to attend Spelman, a college for black women. Her beginning as a writer was in the small rural town of Eatonton, Georgia, where she was the youngest of eight children of impoverished sharecroppers. After listening to Alice Walker"tms speech, I realize that happiness for me is to know that my life has meaning and purpose, and that every day my life touches others in a positive way; whether to make them laugh or learn or both at once! Happiness is a natural outcome of being yourself and having complete integrity. Self-actualization is a process of discovering who you are, who you want to be and paving the way to happiness by doing what brings you the most meaning and contentment to your life over the long run. It is not merely a life lived by accumulating moments of pleasure. We should always think about the small things that make us happy, like helping your elders or simply giving a person who is thirsty a glass of water. We should appreciate their differences and not take them for granted. The journey of life takes us through many times of happiness and sadness. After talking briefly about some of her work, she begins to share with the audience how she became a writer. Many people definition of happiness is surrounded by money, having a good job, or being able to pay the bills on time; however, she realizes that all these things will eventually disappear and that they will not stay with us forever, therefore it is wrong for people to think that these materialistic things will provide them true happiness. To Walker, happiness is simply a world where you can be able to see a sunset every morning or to appreciate the beauty of the desert. Her own work is her effort to understand happiness. Society today no longer cherishes the true meaning of happiness.