Maya Angelou Beliefs

American Poet Maya Angelou once said '' nothing will work unless you do'' She means that you have to work for things in life,no matter if it is good or bad my beliefs that I have are important to me that I have been through hell and back and overcame so many obstacles. The beliefs I believe in and follow day by day are faith in my parents, belief in a diverse community, and trust of friends.

Faith in my parents means having a mother or father who is your legal guardian and someone who take care of you until you reach adulthood. Well my parents are a bit different.They are divorced because my dad cheated on his wife with my mom.I got caught in the middle of it and got blamed by his ex-wife. I didn't know what was going on at that time I was

only five or six years old at that time. My mom and dad's relationship got to the point they could not get along so they had to take it to court.They came up with a joint custody agreement, meaning both parents have physical and legal custody. I would go to my dad's on weekdays for school and my mom's house on the weekends it,but the agreement stopped once I started high school. Out of this whole situation mom always told me growing:up don't be like her because she didn't complete high school and to stay on the right path and follow your dreams. My dad taught me:stay focused and achieve your goals and just because you have a disability don't let it bring you don't and people look at you differently, I have MCI, which is Mild Cognitive Impairment which affects my critical thinking skills and affects my memory and thinking,and judgement .

I believe in diverse communities where people can become more diverse and share common interest.

I live in a community where it is somewhat diverse. It is only 10% African American and we get treated differently in our subdivision . Being an African American teenager, I am a typical stereotype, a kid that hangs out in the streets and do bad things, I'm not. We have had the police called on us plenty of times for stupid things like we had the music up too loud.Once,it was the Fourth of July and my family had came out to me and my dad's house to have dinner and light up some fireworks, but it didn't last long cause here come the police saying we had to either stop or go somewhere else . It blew my mind somebody else in our neighborhood was doing fireworks and didn't get the police called on the, which is odd. That's why I wish our subdivision could become more diverse and we didn't have to worry about so many racial issues going on in our subdivision. I wish people would just get to know us instead of assuming we are bad people and not to judge me because I am black and they think it is okay for them just to use the racial slur whenever they

please.

Trust of friends you should believe in, support and trust.

My friends didn't last that long in high school or in general because they either stabbed me in the back or they were not trustworthy. For instance, my ex best friend Tyrasha She had basically used me for my money every time she would come over my house with little money. My dad and I would loan her, but we expected her to pay it back but she never did. So when it comes to friends I keep my circle really small and never let my guard down until I can fully trust them. I've had a lot of bad friendships in the past. The reason why we we grew apart she started to act different toward me and I don’t need friend like that so from now on I don’t put my all into a friendship I just get to know the person at first before trying to have a friendship. And, I will learn from this experience by getting to really know the person first before giving them all my trust.

To conclude, faith in my parents, diversity in communities,and trust in friends are all things we need to have a strong presence in our lives . These values or beliefs have been important to me because I have overcome some obstacles dealing with racism, divorced parents, and not having good friendships. In the future it, will be important to learn from other people's mistakes. Having different belief or values define who you are as a individual and it is up you to handle your belief or

value.