Three Important Things Toni Morrison Taught Us
Last month, the literary community mourned the death of a legend.
Toni Morrison passed away after living 88 years of life filled with sharing her philosophy about the Black experience from angles untouched by anyone else. People were able to identify themselves in her writing. They were able to see parts of themselves that had yet to be recognized in other works when writers rarely talked about the contemporary lifestyles of Black people as eloquently and diversely as she does.
Through the mourning of this legend, a lot of us were inspired to go back and read all of her work as a way to celebrate her life. During this time, we were able to discover the lessons left by Morrison seemingly intended to propel the culture forward. It’s no new discovery that Morrison’s writing was ahead of her time and extremely engaging, but there are also opportunities for us to apply them to our lives today.
Here are a few lessons left by Morrison that we can all learn from:
1. “You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
For most of us, ambition is common, but success is seldom reached without compromise. We find ourselves holding on to things that have no meaning—afraid that letting it go would cause destruction. We hold onto these things without even realizing they’re burdens at all. When we let them go, we are able to move and think in a way that is conducive to our mental, emotional, spiritual, and financial health.
2. “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, you must be the one to write it. “
We know now more than ever, with the normalization of social commentary being transmitted online, that representation is becoming more and more important. The problem with this is that we often expect people to tell our stories for us. How many times have we heard of celebrities being called out for not representing a certain subsection of a community that they’re expected to represent? People shouldn’t be expected to speak on the behalf of a population that they have no experience or education on, nor should we beg for representation in spaces that refuse to represent us. Instead, we should take Morrison’s advice and write our own stories.
3. “At this point in life, the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough.”
Out of all of Toni Morrison’s quotes, this one will always stand the test of time. Even today, it’s important to be reminded to take breaks from capturing every moment and enjoy what we have in front of us. These days whenever something amazing is happening, instead of taking the time to live in that moment, our first instinct is to pull out our phones and capture it so we can share it with people we are mildly acquainted with or save the moment and stuff it into the archives in fear of losing it forever. Take time to disconnect from the idea that moments are fleeting. Live in it, understand that it’s amazing, and let it go so you can make room for the next amazing experience.
The thing about losing a legend is that we never really lose them. They spend their lives leaving things behind for us to admire them for generations. We have been inspired and transformed. We are left with the gift of her words to carry us through.
