by Paula Hines Lonergan
About six months ago, I decided to devote some of my time to help the Young African American Women's Conference committee. It sounded like a fun and interesting endeavor. We had meetings once a month to once a week as we got closer to the conference date.
I had an opportunity to meet and organize the conference with many different African American women in the community from all walks of life. Slowly, the details for the conference started coming together. Then, suddenly I was nominated the chair for the program committee of the conference. Granted, I consider myself a fairly organized person, at least in some aspects of my life, but never had I been the program chair of anybody's committee before.
Nevertheless, I jumped in and did whatever I thought needed to be done to accomplish the task by putting the program together with the help of my fellow committee members. The conference date finally arrived, it was this past Saturday.
The day was splendid. A total of 353 young women attended the event, which was far more than we anticipated. The girls were attentive, obedient, and seemed to really enjoy and appreciate the workshops, panels, the lunch, and the African American women who participated by sharing bits of wisdom. Bits of wisdom about the importance having self-esteem, being goal-oriented, doing good in school, respecting your parents, and forgiving others and yourself.
I couldn't attend each workshop personally because of taking care of responsibilities as the chair, so I only caught bits and pieces of some of the workshops. However, my heart was warmed at seeing all the hard work coming to fruition, and the event being a grand success. How happy I am to have had a part in contributing something positive for our young people, so they could have bits of wisdom they can carry throughout their lives.
Writing and Publishing Tip:
When writing a biography, you are endeavoring to tell another person's life story. Writing a biography about your own family or about members of your family is truly a gift which can be passed on to future generations. Start with an outline and pick out events in the person's life, finding out what in way was this persons life remarkable, what are two or three lessons which can be learned from this persons life, or what did this person do for a living. After retrieving the important details about the person, start telling the story. Write it longhand or type it on the computer, either way is just fine, just get it written down. People's lives are fascinating and it is fun to share life experiences.
Inspirational thought of the day:
Be peaceable as far as it depends on you, once said a lawyer. Does that make one a pushover, a coward? What takes more strength, to yell and curse at someone when you are mad or to control yourself and hold your tongue? Try to stop a pot that is boiling over. To hold in negative emotions when upset can be a challenge, but it is a challenge worth tackling. Once a word is out, you can't take it back. How much better it is to keep the peace, learn to talk kindly to another, and address things when everyone is calmer. Adds to the peace within yourself and reduces stress. Try it.
Copyright 2005 Paula Lonergan.
All rights reserved.