Welcome readers! To another fantastic double edition of the one and only The Beat Within. We are still going strong getting the issue out to you all, as quickly as possible every other week.
First of all, I would like to extend a warm embrace to all you participants that are a part of our writing community, from all the editors, volunteers, typists, teachers, counselors, and to all the participants both youth and adults that step up to the plate speaking your truths, week in and week out.
This is to all of you that make The Beat Within happen. Now to the importance of my essay and positive message. There are plenty of great topics this week that I couldn’t just concentrate on just one, but what outrages me kind of jumped at me like a stubborn mosquito trying to bite me, while knowing I’m trying to kill it. So, I want to kill it.
What outrages me? What really outrages me? I haver anger issues. This past year hasn’t been all that great and well you know what? I’m not going to sit here and complain, but I just haven’t had a good past few years, and I’m sure many of you haven’t. We had the pandemic, which shut shhh down. For a little bit it seemed like everybody was a bit more humble, and careful, and grateful I think of just being alive because COVID-19 was like a big ole Russian Roulette, not knowing who was gonna catch it and die from it.
But still I watched with disgust the false lies that were being spread about where it originated, how it originated and people who were anti-mask-wearing (further spreading the virus), knowing that masks and the vaccine was what would help save people’s lives.
There are so many injustices, and honestly when people lie, and you believe it, you’re the dumb one for being a follower and just believing. Because just like you need proof and see paperwork to see when someone supposedly tells or snitches, you need to see the damn proof of what anyone says.
You can’t go around just believing anybody, especially online! Come on folks! Have we really gotten that lazy? We let people spoon feed us lies and then we ourselves spread the information as if it were real, making us a liar too! Have you ever thought about it like that? This is what outrages me and what’s even worse is that theses lies are created to grow division and hatred towards one another.
This has been going on for a very long time. Conspiracy theories for example, are exactly just that. Hey, I like to indulge in a good plot and story twist that maybe the government is secretly hiding facts from the public, or there are a group of super rich upper echelon people that run the world, etc. The list goes on, but you know what, I entertain it for like five to ten minutes and then I get Amnesia.
I forget about it because all these lies, which you can spend hours daily, scrolling, watching videos, because I doubt many are actually reading articles, are a waste of time and distracting all of us from more important things like one of our other topics, “helping others.”
Now, I love the way some of our topics intertwine. The fact that we spend more time, soaking in lies instead of using it more productively like helping others, or helping yourself get smarter, like taking a class, reading a book, watching a full documentary, and not a thirty second video clip.
I’m really big on documentaries or doc-series and sometimes watch several on the same subject and draw up my own conclusion about things, but I investigate. I don’t watch just one news channel, I watch several, right wing, left wing, north wing, south wing, French news, Indian news, European News, NBC, ABC, CNN, BBC, Fox News, you get my drift.
I don’t let anybody tell me what I should think, and I definitely don’t let anybody stop me from trying to help others. Many of you adults in prison reading this I know have lots of experiences in the field of helping because many of you that are in positive prison environments find yourselves or have found yourselves where you’ve helped a cellmate or a neighbor. You may even help your family directly from prison. Maybe the tables are reversed, maybe your wife/husband, or family and relatives put money on your books, order you books or write you and answer phone calls to boost your morale.
See life is all about first, helping yourself and then trying to do your best to help those around you, this includes your family, your cousins, nieces, nephews, sisters, brothers, classmate, neighbor, and at times even those you don’t even know. One thing I have noticed about the younger generation that has actually rubbed off on some of the elder generation, don’t know if it’s Gen Z, Y or X. I’m not trying to knock on y’all, is that damn when you help someone out, please don’t go keeping the receipts.
I mean if you’re going to help someone, do it from the bottom of your heart and don’t expect anything in return. See it’s easy to help someone, and expect a pat on the back, a trophy, a cookie, or a thank you card, or recognition from a certain group of people. Many of us have not grasped the concept that helping people involves sacrificing something, something that you may love doing.
It maybe sacrificing your free time, or your hard-earned money. You may need to take time off from work to help out someone that’s sick. It could be stuff that’s just as important, and just recognizing when someone just needs an ear so they could be heard. Sometimes, giving someone some sound advice is one of the most important ways to help a person in need.
There’s value to helping and being true to your morals and principles. Lies lead to hate and hate leads to violence. This is why I get outraged when people don’t check the facts and believe the lies. That’s not going to help us progress into better people. Don’t regress. Don’t believe the lies.
Be you, help yourself first, and then focus on helping others. This is how we will all be able to live in peace and help each other achieve our goals. Don’t be outraged by the injustices in life. Realize that you all have the power… to make a difference. OT is signing out with all the love and the respect in the world for all of you!