Thank you!
These two words of gratitude are my salute to the life you lived as a woman, a mother, a black woman, a pioneer in television and film, an outspoken voice against injustice… and an anomaly of grace that rested on your shoulders like the brilliance of diamonds.
I watched you from afar… never having the privilege to grace your bigger than life persona in any personal setting. But I smile often now, thinking you were one of those super heroines that would live forever in the earth.
Yet, you will. I, like many others who loved you from afar, carry you in my memory.
Life Reflections
It’s not just the lessons of television and film that I hold in reflective aerial view, but the public and private lessons that spoke of your stature… the kind of lessons that so many in this generation have abandoned.
I admire both the invisible and visible parts of your life like how you kept your daughter’s relationship with you in fierce privacy and intimacy. And how you weathered the personal storms that occupied the media with boldness in your choices, and silence in your responses.
You see, I understand that your protest was grace and the beauty of a life lived in mercy. For every public display, there was a depth of privacy that gave your audience a measure of authenticity, and your family its honor.
These kinds of lessons drip with refinement of years, wisdom born of untold pain and triumph; and a level of accountability in out life choices that cause us to learn, accept the hard lessons and learn from them, and move on.
Some how, you were able to do this with contemplative movement and surreal elegance.
My Personal Tribute
You brought truth to your characters on screen, and within them we saw the fight for equality.
You brought profound words and thought to the public controversies as dignity took hold of your stories and taught the world around them how to fly high, stand tall and not succumb to tabloid chaos.
You let truth be seen and have it’s way.
I heard others speak of you.
In their conversations I learned that you didn’t succumb to negative narratives painted over your existence. You taught people how to exit the circus and embrace our own narrative. You demanded triumph and saw obstacles as opportunities to explore the very depths of the purity of character, the wisdom of measured emotion.
You understood legacy, and proved that persevering in upholding a good name isn’t a “dated concept” but a soul-posture that allows us to live life as sojourners who understand the power in what they leave behind.
It wasn’t about awards or external accolades for you, but defying the odds. And there you stood, defying histories narrative in the darkest times of our people’s history. And you lived it out like both a tragic and epic epic fairytale… in which the Queen wins.
You see, in nearly a century on this earth you saw the world change from the high-road you decided to take.
What Was Visible
It was about self-respect, selflessness, personal honor, virtue, and respectability.
It was about dreaming big and respecting hope beyond any limitation presented.
It was about loving SELF enough that one becomes concerned about helping others love themselves as well. It was about shouldering a responsive legacy of dignity… that has been discard by so many in this rambunctious and toxic time in which we live.
For me, you became a standard for living, listening, learning and being…. a far off where very few exist today.
You became a consistent light of identity in a maze of great darkness… as the very people you stood and fought to present as human are still wandering the streets of lost-identity not understanding what you really left behind.
You stood between two centuries – a witness to the great depression, a World War, the rise of radiovision to major motion pictures to watching an entire generation watch movies and download digital content on smart phones.
Your bridging ability among generations is as epic as the world changes you lived to see.
You taught us that “WE” are built to overcome insurmountable odds.
You proved that it doesn’t take an ARMY, just a made up mind, clear vision and determination.
You helped us believe we would learn to care about others as much as we care about ourselves.
You proved that one person who lived at the precipice of two centuries can bridge new worlds.
You gave us hope for a revival of dignity, honor and self-respect, and convinced us that it can still be an aspiration.
You gave us proof that even though progress can be excruciatingly slow in some areas that we must be thankful for progress just the same.
You gave us evidence of a virtuous faith – one that swings at the door of our lips and demand we speak life and light in darkness.
You gave us snapshots that declared that in every generation, somewhere… there is a standard that observing eyes can cast their gaze upon as a legitimate role model.
A Fine Thank You
I thank you Queen Cicely Tyson! I have heard your life’s silence and your spoken words.
And I have understood the title of your memoir, “Just As I Am.”
What was released to generations outwardly was a narrative of what you lived inwardly lived and learned.
We see it. I thank you for a precious view of personified dignity and grace. Salute!
