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Were you as excited about entering a new decade as I was near the end of 2019? Didn't we hope to enter 2020 with an opportunity to revision and make some changes? This would be our year to find 20/20 vision.

Instead we've entered 2020 to find our lives turned upside down. As we navigate turbulence and uncertainty, Maya Angelou's voice becomes our prayer. Here are the words of this powerful poem in its entirety to inspire you. to keep learning. to keep growing. to lean into your YES and your resilience. to continue...

Continue by Maya Angelou

Into a world which needed you
 My wish for you
 Is that you continue

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To be who and how you are
 To astonish a mean world
 With your acts of kindness

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To allow humor to lighten the burden
 of your tender heart

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In a society dark with cruelty
 To let the people hear the grandeur
 Of God in the peals of your laughter

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To let your eloquence
 Elevate the people to heights
 They had only imagined

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To remind the people that
 Each is as good as the other
 And that no one is beneath
 Nor above you

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To remember your own young years
 And look with favor upon the lost
 And the least and the lonely

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To put the mantel of your protection
 Around the bodies of
 The young and defenseless

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To take the hand of the despised
 And diseased and walk proudly with them
 In the high street
 Some might see you and
 Be encouraged to do likewise

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To plant a public kiss of concern
 On the cheek of the sick
 And the aged and infirm
 And count that as a
 Natural action to be expected

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To let gratitude be the pillow
 Upon which you kneel to
 Say your nightly prayer
 And let faith be the bridge
 You build to overcome evil
 And welcome good

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To ignore no vision
 Which comes to enlarge your range
 And increase your spirit

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To dare to love deeply
 And risk everything
 For the good thing

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To float
 Happily in the sea of infinite substance
 Which set aside riches for you
 Before you had a name

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And by doing so
 You and your work
 Will be able to continue
 Eternally