Thoughts on The Beat Topics

by P, San Mateo 

If I could get rid of any rule or law I would ban life sentences and get rid of the death row. Why? Incarceration is already too hard on a person and the government would rather have convicts rot in prison than rehabilitate individuals. I personally have not been affected by this law, nor do I know someone serving a life sentence. But if this consequence was to be banned, I think many families would be more complete. Just maybe the nepotism of incarceration would cease to exist. 

I currently reside in Daly City. As you know it is a very small city. That’s one of the reasons I think it’s special to its residents. I feel like almost every youth would know each other for better or worse. I would’ve probably never met my friends who I consider kin. I wouldn’t have met some teachers who actually care about the youth. I think I wouldn’t have been the same if I grew up in a different area and I like who I am. So living in Daly City is how I would’ve wanted it to be. NO other way. 

Growing up, I never had a father figure. Me and my brothers learned to strive on our own. Also from my mom. My mom taught me how to be a gentlemen, manners, and how to treat people. I mostly learned from experiences like skateboarding or how to pop a wheelie. I guess I learned a lot from YouTube. LOL. Something I learned that I will carry forever is to not trust no-one. Not family or friends. Keep your friend’s close. Keep your enemies closer. I learned that everything could be worse. Everything gets worse before it ever gets better.

I have a quote that I would like to relate with. “You’ve got to learn to leave the table, when loves no longer being served.”- Nina Simone. I feel this quote speaks to me. I think it speaks to me because I have a lot to learn on this topic. When I first hear this quote I think of a gamble, a dice game perhaps. “Yo’ve got to learn to leave the table…” You got to know and acknowledge when you have a disadvantage of some sorts. Like when a person “hits” you for some of your money. I’d rather lose some then go all in no matter what the opposition says. They want you to slip up and go all in anyways. “When love no longer being served,” I think this would mean when you are being cheated. It could be when you are used or manipulated. This is my breakdown of today’s quote.

I would like to express my thoughts on defining success. Obviously everybody wants to be successful, whether in wealth or spirit. In my opinion my view on success is whatever makes you into a better person. A person’s success may be getting away with a bank robbery. A success like that may make you a better person because of what you could do with that money. If I hit a bank I would personally give my mom a good amount of it. This is only one bad example of success. 

Now jumping to a different subject, I want to go ahead and speak about sacrifices. The greatest sacrifice I have taken would be my freedom. Why? It is a very self-explanatory. With no freedom you are bound to the walls you surround yourself in, whether physically or mentally. I made my lates sacrifice on July 2nd, 2020. It was my sister’s birthday. Me and my friends decide to burglarize cars and stupidly get the police involved sooner than later. 

I want to talk about a great book I read that is titled Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsey. It is about a serial Killer who only kills bad people. He works with Miami PD as a blood splatter expert. You may have heard of the show, Dexter on Showtime. In this story, Dexter’s sister Deb, who is a police officer gets involved in a string of murders similar to the way Dex does it, limbs severed, beautifully wrapped and a mysterious lack of blood. The Blood Splatter Expert feels he needs to know more about this killer. 

Dex finds clues that only speak to him and ultimately finds the culprit. It ends up being his brother who he lost at a young age. His sister Deb almost gets murdered by his brother and ends up killing a detective that shows up to surprise them. The story ends by having a funeral for the detective. Deb seems like she will get killed but it ends up being the detective. It’s a kind of happy wack ending.