Happy New Year friends! It is an honor to bring you our first issue of 2021! Did you know come this September, The Beat Within will be 25 years old!? Yes, a quarter of century of writing and art from the inside and beyond shared in the pages of The Beat Within, with our amazing community of family, friends, brothers, sisters, allies, community partners, supporters, colleagues, teachers, students, artists, writers, lawyers, judges, probation officers, correctional officers, counselors, facilitators, typists, editors and complete strangers that we hope one day to meet. Thank you all for believing in our work and if you are reading this editorial note, thank you for taking the time to read these few words as you are about to embark on this one of a kind double issue, 26.01/02.
As you will see with this issue, we have plenty of thoughtful writers, but sadly due to this horrible pandemic, COVID has made it quite challenging to do our workshops, with our friends finding themselves isolated and quarantined, shut down, due to this horrific virus but it has also made us more resilient and patient.
Given not only the tragedy of this pandemic, but what a first week we have all witnessed, full of violence, shock, anger, sadness, confusion, intolerance, ignorance, fear, despair, and mindlessness. What’s next?
It was such a challenging time to find the motivation to work, as we found ourselves glued to the news, as we strive to get our first issue to the printer. What helped were several very good workshops to kick off the new year, the reading of these entries from our good friends inside and out, and this editor’s turntable, where one find solace in music, especially vinyl, ahhh.
Now allow us to pass the keyboard to our friend, Kurt Peterson aka TheDreamHustler to take this editorial note home, as he surprised us with this inspiring piece, poem, prayer. We are honored to share with you!
What is an Appropriate Response to the events at our Nation’s Capital? David Inocencio and I spoke by phone yesterday about our views of the recent events that have unfolded this past week at the U.S. Capital Building.
Collectively we wanted to find a place in our minds that offered peace and hope so that we could reside there for a brief moment in time. Admittedly, I do not think my responses gave either of us quite what we were looking for but it did act as the driving force for this next entry. I have not been able to drop the subject from my mind and I am sure many of you are wondering what this means for us, and what the future holds…
The key to our future exists in the present. First, for us to be able to imagine and realize a future that is worthy of our dreams and aspirations, we must practice viewing those same dreams and aspirations in the now.
If we wish for heaven to be realized, we must find heaven now, in the present moment.
Gratitude, faith, hope, and a positive mindset are practiced ways of thinking. In order for a future of peace, acceptance, love, and prosperity to be obtained, we must practice the art of seeing them even now.
The solution exists in all of us. And it starts with aligning our mindsets, our hearts, our spirit, and our perspectives with those forces that will ensure a safe landing in our future.
Those forces exist as hope, faith, determination, and trust…both in ourselves and our fellow humans.
Our emotions – friend or foe? So, what are we to do with how we feel about the events that have transpired? So much of what has happened, and so much of our reactions continue to be emotionally driven.
This is a huge risk. We are standing at the edge of a cliff. The world we choose to paint, depends on what we choose to make true in our lives.
Will we believe in love or hate? Will we believe ourselves to be courageous or fearful? Which animal will you feed? Will we soar like an eagle? Or will we retreat to the corner in the shadows, like a wounded beast blindly lashing out at friend and foe.
What is to be done with our anger? First, anger is not the problem. Anger is a valid emotion. But like any emotion, it is a loaded gun. So, before you pull that trigger, consider what you are aiming at.
It is easy to fall into the trap of placing anger and blame on people. We do this all the time. But I ask you, has this ever resulted in the peace we seek?
The problem is never our fellow man. Not really. But it often presents this way. It is akin to thinking that a heart attack is the fault of the heart. When what is really to blame is the nourishment and treatment of the heart.
We as people, are the beating heart. We live, breathe, create, and effect the world we live in. This happens in every moment like the beating of our hearts. The events of this past week? This was our collective heart attack.
How do we remedy the broken heart? Ready for it? We do something that is counterintuitive to everything we think must be done. We forgive. Please listen to me. Please. Here is why.
We must own our part in it. We are not silos. We are a part of the collective human experience. We shape and affect each other. We are a result of this collective experience.
When we forgive others. We forgive ourselves.
And when we crucify others, we crucify ourselves.
Whatever we want to see in the future, we need to see now. Those that acted the way they did. Those that took up arms against something so sacred. Make sure you forgive the person and direct anger at the action. And when we decide how to heal the atrocity…make sure you consider what led to the atrocity in the first place.
Here in the United States, we are blessed with the right to believe in more than one idea. This is a fundamental part of what freedom is. But these ideas need to stem from truth.
If truth is not spoken, then it is poison to the human spirit. The actions of the past week are not because of bad people, but because of the poison that was provided to the human spirit.
Taking responsibility and enacting our power!
We cannot spin our minds and become victims of the tidal waves of our emotions. We are at risk of being consumed by our internal demons and becoming frozen in fear.
This cannot happen. We must choose action. And more importantly we must choose the right actions. To ensure we choose what is right, we must base our actions on those beliefs that are akin to the truth of our human spirit.
If you love yourself, then by default, you love others. This is a difficult truth. But a truth just the same. Think of your family. You love your family, but I never said you like all of them.
Love has nothing to do with agreement, friendship, or understanding. Love is a universal truth and to ensure you are living up to the task of enacting your own power, you are by default acting within the belief of love.
Do those that have done wrong, deserve to be held accountable? Yes. Absolutely. But accountability is most effective when it is delivered with love and forgiveness. In this way, we make certain that mankind is not given up on but rather course corrected so that we may continue our endeavors towards infinite possibility, truth, and enlightenment.
What actions do I commit to both now and in the future?
I commit to love and forgiveness.
I commit to speaking my truth, and to affording the same to others.
I commit to vote and I commit to affecting the world around me
with truth, compassion, inclusion, and non-violence.
I understand that love comes before understanding.
Love requires nothing for it is all there is.
To show love is to try to understand. If understanding eludes me, then appreciation and non-judgement of what I do not understand is love enough.
I invite a world of many beliefs and ideas.
I thrive in a world that is of many colors, textures, and patterns.
It is in this diversity that the human existence expresses its richness and beauty.
I commit to living in love and not fear.
I commit to teaching this belief in action, through leadership, daily living,
the choices I make, and the words I use in writing and speech.
I promise to listen and to allow my fellow man to be heard.
I will love without judgement.
Finally, I will hold myself accountable to these commitments. I ask that you also hold me accountable. And if you share my beliefs and if you share in my commitments. May we join together and hold each other accountable now and in the future. Here is a toast and a prayer to the heaven we deserve and the peace we seek.