Maya Angelou said one of the most important questions a person can ask himself in life is, "Where does my family end?"
As a person ages, the answer to that query should continue to grow, Angelou told participants at the 16th annual Families Alive Conference at Weber State University Friday."If you accept this as a conference on keeping families alive, we have to think big," she said. "Never let it be said you have finished building your family."
In that spirit, the award-winning author of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and 18 other books urged those hearing her keynote address to cross lines of race, ethnicity and gender to conquer their fears and reach out to one another.
People are much more alike than different, she said.
"Everybody in the world wants safe streets," she said. "Everybody wants a place to worship God on Sunday and someplace to party on Saturday night."
The three-day conference ending today includes panel discussions and seminars with representatives from programs and agencies on a variety of issues facing children and families.
Suffering from laryngitis and speaking at times in tones hardly above a whisper, Angelou called on participants to recognize the inter-relatedness of all mankind and to learn from the Latin playwright Terence, who said that, "Nothing human can be alien to me."
A realization of Terence's ideas includes an admission that the worst possible deeds committed by mankind are crimes any person could commit. The possibility of evil is within everyone, just as is the ability to do things lofty and humane.
Angelou said recognizing the darkness in one's soul happens at the same time as a realization of the ability to do good and the power to act upon that instinct.