Happy 2020! Welcome to another fabulous issue of writing and art from The Beat Within. We can’t thank you enough for taking the time to not only read this editorial note, but to read and hopefully find inspiration in the pages of this latest issue. All though this issue is a bit smaller than our normal output, due to the winter holiday break, we don’t think you will be disappointed in what is inside. Let’s start the new year off right, by giving our longtime friend and colleague, OT, the keyboard to spread wisdom to us all. Thanks again for taking the time to read and if you are a contributor, we are very grateful for your time and work. OT!…
We would like to welcome back you readers to another special edition of the one and only The Beat Within. This is OT once again reporting to you live from the hot and humid weather in Managua, Nicaragua. First and foremost, I would like to start of by saying something real cliche to everyone reading this, but Happy New Year. It’s a brand New Year, a brand new Month, and like I read in many of your pieces, and I actually heard my little thirteen year old about to be fourteen year old little sister say, “It’s just another day.” And I’m not saying that you are wrong for saying that or even thinking that, you guys are actually right. It is just another day.
I sometimes wake up with that mentality. I’m thirty-four years old. I’ve sat in the old Hillcrest Juvenile Hall (San Mateo County). I went to the camp, got kicked out, did the rest of my time in the hall, got out, went to San Francisco County Jail, a couple of times and then ended up going straight to the Federal Prison System, then I got kicked out of the United States and deported to a country I had not been in since I left at the age of three years old.
That’s my summary in a nutshell, so you can get a picture of the trajectory that got me here. Most of you are citizens and will get back out to your fam’ out there. A small percentage of you are immigrants and you may have to face my reality, but I’m not here to tell you today to think about my consequences.
My time already passed… I’m already where I’m at, and I am very fortunate to wake up today to what you would call “just another day.” I thank God before each meal, and I am thankful that I’m breathing. You guys and gals, the struggle hasn’t stopped for me, just because I’m no longer in the United States. I face challenges everyday just like you.
I know what you all are thinking, when you wake up every day and you stare at the same four walls, or the same door, you use the same toilet and eat the same nasty food or what not. But remember, life is like that. If you were free, you would have to go make a living every day, go to your same job, same school, go back to your same house, and go about the same routine, granted that it’s different, more flexible, and you have different options once you’re free, but you still have a routine, and you guys are locked up and say “it’s just another day,” and I understand you, but my little sister Gabriela is free on her iPhone every day and says the same thing. So here’s the multi-million dollar question that I have for you guys. What changes?
Your clothes? The food? The people you interact with? The video game you play? The girl or the boy you talk to? The book you read? You do a different work out? What’s the difference, and the only reason why I’m challenging you, because by calling you all, it helps me challenge myself. I too have said that phrase plenty of times from my early adolescence all the way up until now, I find myself saying it once in a while, but mainly I say it when I’m feeling negative.
Fellas, ladies, youngsters, OG’s, it’s never “just another day.” It’s a brand new day, a brand new opportunity, and a chance at a brand new beginning. It is your perfect opportunity to turn that day into something different. We all get stuck in a rut folks. We all tend to fall into the same routine and walk around like robots. Wake up, school, work, eat, shower, have a little fun and go to sleep. For the people behind bars, doors unlock, brush your teeth, get ready for breakfast, and get ready for the day, right?
Same ol’ cellie, same ol’ slippers or Bob Barker, Chucks, right? The problem is and the problem that I personally have and I’m willing to put myself out there, is that we wake up and see life just in the material aspect, and just in the physical form and mainly we only look at what’s directly five feet in front of us. You’re driving in the fast line and you don’t even look fifteen to twenty cars ahead. You look at the TV and you absorb all the crap you see, excuse my language.
You have your favorite App on, Instagram, Snapchat, Tic-Toc, Facebook, Clash of The Titans, Fortnite, Minecraft, etc. Anyways you get my drift. Nowadays there’s a good chance of you walking into a bright red stop sign for looking at your phone too much. You may even fall into a manhole. You spend more time looking at your phone than the people you love. The people that are not going to be here forever. You spend more time taking flics of yourself and videos of yourself instead of hugging your loved ones, and kissing your loved ones and having a conversation with them. I may not be talking to you, because you will say I don’t do social media.
Bull crap, all the rappers got social media now, so you gone tell you me you don’t you lying to yourself? I need to get followers online. I need to get clicks. I need to get views. “It’s just another day,” right? Am I making anybody mad, because if I am than good. That is my intention because I made myself mad while I was writing this.
I may be wrong about some of the stuff I’m saying and honestly I hope to God I am. I want to let you know that I wasted a good portion of my life not on social media like the new generation does, but by giving my freedom to the system when I could have been free with my loved ones. When I was locked up, I tried to write to everyone that I knew and care about at least once, not because I wanted money on my books, or not because I wanted a letter in return, I wanted to let the people that I cared about and that I let down, know that I was sorry for letting them down.
I hear you guys say or talk about how people don’t answer your calls or don’t write back, but ask yourself, is it really their obligation? Because you feel needy, or you need someone to do something for you, but when you was out committing that crime or doing your thang you never even took that person into consideration did you?
I know someone owes you something, right? Hey, everyone thinks different. There are friends that I have, that visited me when I was locked up, that I have much love for and there were about one-hundred more that didn’t visit me, but I still love them the same. I knew what I was getting myself into when I chose the street life. I knew the consequences. I hope you guys take this “just another day” to think about YOUR life. Don’t worry about what YG, Drake, Bad Bunny, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Meek Millz, The Amigos, etc. Don’t worry about that.
It’s fun to talk about artists, when they catch cases, when they get caught driving drunk, who’s messing with who, but I see that many of you younger generation like taking a lot of flics and videos, but honestly how much time do you spend thinking about THE REAL YOU and who you are deep down inside, behind your mask, behind your hair, your braids, your fade, your bald head, your tattoos, your Jordan’s or Air Maxes.
Where do you want to go in life? Who do you want to be? Who do you want to help? We’ve all been in a position where we need help, and we wanted help and some of you got that help whether it was from a peer, a counselor, a friend, your supervisor at work, a stranger a cousin, your girlfriend/boyfriend or pastor, or even maybe a CO.
It’s time to figure out who will you help in this life to return that favor. I’m in debt to so many people during my lifetime, some of them are dead, some of them are still in jail, and some of them are like 3,000 miles away from where I’m at, and since I was so blessed by these people it’s only right for me to turn around and try to bless the next man or woman and keep practicing what they showed me. Because guess what, if it really is “just another day,” do you want to be the same ol’ you? Or do you want to be better than the day before?
Don’t you want to be a better athlete, a better boxer, a better reader, a better drawing artist, tattoo artist or a better father, a better mother, a better brother, a better uncle, a better friend? Don’t you want to change something about this day that should mean EVERYTHING to you? Because it is your day.
This day is your chance and opportunity to make that change to study, educate yourself, finish school, get a job, buy your car, buy your mom a house, forgive those that hurt you, say sorry to those that you have hurt, do a good deed for someone you don’t know, or pay your phone bill and have a positive attitude and be grateful for what you have.
In case you don’t believe in the Happy New Year hocus pocus, then I would like to wish you all a great day, a great week and a great month.
“It’s just another day…” and I expect you to be a BETTER YOU. Make the most of it. I say this with all the heart in my soul. One love to every single one of you ladies and gentlemen. The Beat keeps going and going…
Thank you OT for your words of inspiration. We too want to wish you a wonderful 2020! Thank you readers and writers for all you do. We truly appreciate being a part of your life. We can’t thank you enough for your contributions and support. Reach out to us anytime. We would love to hear from you.