Here we are again, miraculously printing another issue of your writing. The miracle is not just that we have been able to keep this publication alive and thriving (from the strength of our original workshops in San Francisco to the nation’s capital in Washington, D.C. and all the way across the Pacific Ocean in the nation’s 50th state, Hawaii), but that we keep learning and growing from your words. That is a blessing we appreciate every day. Lately, we’ve been thinking a lot about some of the lessons we’ve learned after publishing your writing for the past thirteen plus years. And while we could never list all that you have taught us, there are two areas we want to talk about in this Editor’s Note, because, from what you write in The Beat, we believe they lead more young people into trouble than any others.

One is alcohol.

So many of you are here (or facing other consequences) because of getting drunk. Perhaps because of your age, getting drunk seems to be a major preoccupation, something many of you think about even when you’re locked away from the beer or Hen or other forms of alcohol that are, far too often, the basis of your socializing. This is a serious problem, not just because so many sad stories begin with the confession, “I was drunk,” but also because alcoholism is a serious disease that sneaks up on you, little by little, slowly rotting your liver (and you only have one of those), destroying brain cells (which do not regenerate), and forcing your kidneys to work harder than they were designed to do. Alcohol addiction is one of the hardest addictions to break, not just because your body begins to crave it, but also because alcohol is everywhere around you, legal to purchase and consume (though illegal for those under 21), and marketed aggressively in ways that young people, in particular, find difficult to resist. We cannot stress enough to those of you with the courage to face your own demons that this is a problem that is infinitely easier to correct before it takes over your life than after. We urge those of you who are in this category to seek the help you need to stop drinking.

But there is also another “disease” that leads too many of you down paths that have dead-end destinations — the loss of freedom and family, or the loss of life itself. We could call that disease the money-chase. Even gangs, who organize themselves around particular colors or particular neighborhoods are driven by that money-chase. Though they often talk in dramatic language about “causes” that are worth killing and dying for, what they’re really after is money, and the soldiers that fight those “causes” — and who often sacrifice their lives or freedom in the fight — are protecting their gang’s source of money.

Many of you write about your dedication to the “Benjamins” — meaning those green bills with the pictures of dead presidents on them, and others, like Benjamin Franklin (the Benjamins), who was never a president, but whose picture is on the $100 bill.  And that started us thinking about what Benjamin Franklin himself might say about using his name to justify the money-chase.

One of the original Founders of the republic that became the United States of America, Franklin understood the need to plan today for what will come tomorrow. Some important quotations of his come to mind on the topic of the money-chase. The first is a very famous quote: “A penny saved is a penny earned.” In today’s terms, you could substitute a dollar for that penny (or any amount, really), but the meaning doesn’t change: If you want to prepare for your future, you must begin to invest today. When you’re young, it’s hard to see yourself in that future, but the future is inevitable for all of us who stay alive. Whether we can picture ourselves in it or not, it will come. So, what happens to those who have not invested anything towards that future? They will be struggling in old age as they struggle in their youth — and the struggle will be even harder to endure because of their age.

But there are two more Franklin quotations that make the point we are trying to make. He wrote, “An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” Even more important than putting money in the bank (“A penny saved…”) is an investment in your own mind, your own education, because without that, you’ll always be limited by what you know today. Unless you make that “investment in knowledge,” you will miss the knowledge that develops throughout one’s life. That is why, in so many of our “From The Beat” responses, we emphasize the importance of finishing school, of getting a diploma (or GED) and of trying to move on to college. Of course, formal education is only one way (an important way) to invest in knowledge, which can also come from travel (where you learn about other people and other parts of the world), reading (the entire world of knowledge can be found in a library), seeking out people who are different from you and who might challenge the things you’ve been taught to believe in a way that opens your mind to new ideas and new experiences, and many other ways. But however it’s done, investing in knowledge pays huge dividends as you grow into adulthood.

Which brings us to the last Franklin quote we want to share with you, because it might explain some of your reactions to our nagging about the importance of education (as well as the importance of making that investment in knowledge with a sober mind and body). He wrote, “At 20 years of age the will reigns, at 30 the wit, at 40 the judgment.” Since he was an old man who had passed through all these ages when he wrote these words, he knew what he was talking about. But what did he mean?

“At 20 years of age, the will reigns…” Your “will” is your determination, your certainty about what you’re going to do or not to do. “The will reigns” means that your determination and certainty (at age 20) are in the driver’s seat, leading you to do what you do. Most Beat writers are approaching their 20s, and reading many Beat pieces would lead your readers to conclude that Franklin was right. How many of you insist that you will never change? Isn’t that a statement of your will? How many of you insist that you have to do what you do? What is that but a statement of will? How many of you, even recognizing the need for change to bring different consequences, still believe that you can determine how and when that change will come (or will never come), still believe that it is your will which determines those things? “The will reigns…”

“…at 30 the wit…” Wit is what your mind produces — the quick response that might produce a laugh or an approving nod, and which might gain you an audience, but which is not subject to deep thinking about a future or about consequences. Still, at age 30, the future seems too far away, as if it will never arrive, and so only “now” is important.

And then that future arrives, and suddenly you are of an age where that investment in knowledge you made in your youth begins to pay off — or, tragically, that investment you never made begins to leave you further and further behind. “…at 40 the judgment.”

So, what is judgment, and how do you get it and use it… and what happens when you don’t? To us, judgment is the ability to recognize your will, but be its master, and to blend the mind’s wit with the heart’s will to consider how your choices affect you and those you love. Judgment is the ability to put your own desires to the side if, after considering the outcome, you determine that the sacrifice is worth the effort for what it will produce, for the consequences that always follow every choice you make (and every choice you decide not to make). Judgment is fertilized by experience in life, and the longer we live, the more experience we have. That is why it is hard to find good judgment in the very young, because their experiences are, by definition, limited by the number of years they’ve been in the world.

And that is why explaining all this — whether in an Editor’s Note like this, in our written responses to your pieces, or in direct one-on-one conversations — presents the paradoxical situation of older adults relying on their judgment (that the experience that comes from age has given them) to try to make young people, still guided mostly by their will, to think more like adults so that they can make that critical investment in knowledge, which is the same as investing in your future. It’s the problem that every parent has trying to reason with their children to think about consequences, which to children, seem unimportant and far off into a future that they cannot truly imagine. It is the problem of every adult — from teacher to counselor, from judge to president — when addressing the young, whose will tells them they’ve already heard everything they need to hear, and that they already know everything they need to know. It is the progression from “will” to “wit” to “judgment” that lets children, who once thought their parents were stupid or didn’t understand them, finally see that their parents actually knew something important, that what their parents said was based on experience and was far more valuable than they ever knew when hearing it as children.

And so, even this “sermon” asking you to think hard about what it really means to respect the real Benjamin Franklin (and not just his imagine on a bank note) will fall on too many deaf ears, because “the will reigns” and not the reason, not the judgment.

There are wonderful advantages about being young. The world is new and there for you to discover. Your hormones push you to fall in love, and love at your age is full of hope and that unequaled belief that you’ve found that one person in the world who makes you feel like you’re flying. It is a time of experimentation, of trying new things, of feeling invulnerable, of having health and strong, young bodies. But it also has its limitations, including the lack of control in major areas of your life, and the inability to see yourselves far into the future and thus start preparing for it (by investing in knowledge as well as in financial security).

But age also has both its advantages and its disadvantages. Among the advantages are being in charge of your life and having a life of experience to call on in order to exercise judgment. But among its disadvantages — besides the deterioration of the body that comes with age — is the inability to transfer judgment to the young, to make them think like adults so they can avoid some of the traps and minefields that await them.

And so this see-saw goes back and forth. We who are older try to pour our knowledge and experience into the minds of young people we know so that “judgment” might prevent them from making the mistakes their “will” will lead them to make (and led us to make when our “will reigned.”) And young people will continue to resist that message, believing that they already have the tools they need to negotiate the world. That is the nature of youth. That is what it means to be driven by will.

In truth, both “will” and “judgment” are important qualities of life, so all we can do is keep this see-saw moving — you with the choices you make and what you write about them, and we with our responses to your choices and what you write about them. In that back-and-forth process, ideally both of us should be changed… for the better.

So, with the sermon over, the topics you wonderful writers addressed in this fine issue are these:

If they legalized drugs tomorrow – If you woke up tomorrow and learned that the government had legalized all drugs — not just marijuana, but crack and heroin, cocaine and meth — would it affect your life? How? A lot of gangster activity is based on selling drugs, so would the gang culture be changed? If people could buy drugs at the corner drug store, what would happen to the profits that now are at the root of so much crime? Imagine a world where drugs are legal, where the government is making the profit rather than the individual. After you imagine that world, describe it for us, and tell us whether it would make your community better or worse or unchanged.

Why don’t males (show) their tears?- As babies and very young children, boys and girls cry equally. But as we grow, boys and men don’t like showing their tears, for fear of looking weak. How does this childhood change take place? What kind of “conditioning” or “teaching” do little boys get that’s different from little girls. If you are a young man, and you shed tears, do people laugh or tease you? If you are a young woman, and you shed tears, is the reaction different? What do you think is responsible for this difference? Do you ever feel like you just want to sit down and cry, but you can’t? Why not?

Stepping out of your comfort zone – Many Beat writers say that the streets are all they know, or that they can’t wait to get back to the block. Even when the topic asks you to travel anywhere you choose, many still choose what is most familiar, the life you know best — your comfort zone. Do you ever think about stepping outside your comfort zone, going to unfamiliar places, doing things you haven’t done before? Can you step out of your comfort zone for the time it takes to write a Beat piece, and tell us somewhere unfamiliar you’d like to go, or something unknown you’d like to do, or something new you’d like to learn? What risks do you take by stepping out of your comfort zone? What benefits do you get in return?

We want to dedicate this issue to those of you with the will, the wit and the judgment to appreciate Benjamin Franklin for more than just his picture on money, and who are already investing in their knowledge.