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Published on 03/30/1998 All articles from this issue

Angelou, Wiesel converse on life strategies

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By Linda Taaffe / Town Crier Staff Writer

Sitting in a mock living room on stage in Flint Center at De Anza College, humanitarians Maya Angelou and Elie Wiesel casually talked about their life strategies as members of the sold-out audience listened in on their conversation.

Angelou, a professor at Wake Forest University, author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and a guest speaker at President Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration, joined Wiesel, winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal and the Nobel Peace Prize, for Foothill College's Celebrity Forum March 30.

Angelou had audience members laughing - or prescribing to what she calls "good medicine" - moments into the presentation, as she spoke about her continual struggle to become a good Christian.

"I don't use the whole Bible. I only use it to remind myself of the things I want to hear. The things I don't like are for someone else," she said.

Angelou said being a good Christian is "no small matter. When I hear people say, 'I'm a Christian,' I say 'already?'"

Angelou, who stresses the values of ethnic, economic and religious diversity, said she tries to see herself in every human being.

Wiesel, a survivor of the Holocaust whose mother and sister died in a concentration camp, has worked on behalf of oppressed people for most of his life, defending human rights and peace. Wiesel said he would never grant anyone the right to be indifferent or allow anyone to humiliate another human being.

When someone is humiliated, "that becomes part of that person later on," he said.

Angelou and Wiesel agreed that evil can start with mere a thought, and can manifest itself in the air.

"Be careful of what not only you say, but what you think. Say and think good things. Step out on the good foot," Angelou said.

Wiesel said, "Hating people don't think. They are moved by impulses. They don't listen. That's why they hate."

While discussing the world's injustices, Angelou said courage is probably the most difficult thing anyone can attain. She said people who have witnessed injustice say, "I knew that was wrong. Why didn't I have the courage to speak?" Indifference gives power to evil, she said.

"Seize the moment," Angelou encouraged her audience. "I believe we are worthy (of better)."

The Celebrity Forum was founded by Dick Henning in 1968 as a way to help raise money for the study body at Foothill College. Now in its 31st year, the program has won the best speakers series in the nation, and Henning has won the Drew Pearson Award for best programmer in America.

The De Anza series is sold out, but De Anza and Foothill colleges launched Celebrity Forum II this year at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. Upcoming guests include: Doris Kearns Goodwin, Bill Bradley, John Major, Benazir Bhutto, Marlin Fitzwater and Dee Dee Myers, Desmond Tutu, Pat Buchanan vs. George Stephanopoulos and Molly Ivins.