Why do we do what we do?

Dear Group,

This may not be of interest to anyone but I'm going to post it anyway.

I spend my week days working with inner city troubled youths. Most of them belong to the many street gangs in the Los Angeles Barrios. A few days ago I lost one of my favorite kids. A young kid by the name of Mauricio Ibarra. I had worked with Mauricio since 1995 when he came to us straight out of Y.A. ( California Youth Authority)

Mauricio was shot in the head at point blank range Weds. night while using a local pay phone. He made the mistake of going out into the summer night shirtless, and exposing his many gang tattoos. It cost him his life. He was 7 days away from graduating High School. He would have been the first in his family to do so.

I have lost many kids to the system, or the morgue, over the last 5 years but this one really got to me.

I quit a decent job running camera and video editing for a local Hollywood TV show, to work with these so called "bad" kids. I fell in love with the job and have devoted the last 5 years to trying to do something about the senseless violence and waste of life in the L.A. streets.

As of today, I don't want to do that anymore.

I have to find something else. I hope I can find some of the answers I'm looking for through this board. I would like to encourage any of you lurkers out there, to start posting to the board. You may just have the answers someone else is looking for. Your input does count.Like Gordon says, it really is about WE.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Mauricio was not just a statistic or a animal as some of the Rampart cops on the scene may have said. He was my friend.

To better days,

George Marquez

George,

The quality of Mauricio's life was greatly improved by someone who cared enough to take the time and show him the way.

Please reconsider your decision. One reason why Mauricio's life ended the way it did, is because no one thought enough to make a difference in the life of the poor soul who pulled that trigger.

Think of how many lives you may have already saved, and added quality to, by showing someone the way, and teaching them not to pull that trigger.

> As of today, I don't want to do that
> anymore.

> I have to find something else.

If you must find something else George, find something that will enrich the lives of others in some way, no matter how short those lives may be.

"Why do we do what we do?"

Look beyond the "here and now". What would your friend want you to do?

Sincerely,

Paul Short

George,

This IS of interest to us. All of WE.

You know I'm not about making money and living in luxury, and the high life and all that.

Like you, I want to make a difference.

Like you, I lost a young friend to the streets.

I went wild. And I found myself in crack houses at 2 in the morning trying to pull my clients, my consumers, and the people I was trying to help out. I took great responsibility, and DAMN, I was going to make a difference.

Let me tell you two things that helped me, and maybe will give you something to think about.

The first is a story, a metaphor...

A man walks by the river and hears screams for help. He sees a man drowning in the river.

He jumps in and drags the man to shore.

But as soon as he gets there, he turns and sees Two MORE people in the water, and he jumps in and pulls them both out.

Soon, there was a small crowd jumping in and trying to save all the people screaming, it seemed to be an endless stream by now.

The man, exhausted, staggered away from the scene, and one of the helpers, asked him

"Where are you going, are you QUITTING? What will happen to all these people drowning out there?"

The man replied, "All of us together can't possibly pull everyone from the river, we are losing that battle. As for me, I'm going up river to see who is throwing them in and put a stop to that."

That is why SQUARE ONE WORKSHOPS is so important to me. George, when you start teaching the concepts of personal possibility, that isn't faith based, the people, like the ones you work with will have a FOUNDATION on which to build.

If faith were the only answer, the gangs could be quickly defeated.

The second thing that was said to me, after a tough time, when someone I cared about and worked hard for, and impacted, didn't make it...

a very wise lady told me:

"Let GO and Let God."

She didn't mean for me to quit. Quite the opposite. She encouraged me to go upstream and try to stop the violence, the cruelty, the harsh reality of life.

Do all you can do, but know this, it may not, probably won't be, can't possibly be enough...

So you have to let go, once you've done all you can...and then let God.

It amazes me that people of faith, or more accurately people of religion, have this concept of "God's Will".

Is it God's will to have young kids murdered in the streets? Of course not, at least not my God's will.

You have people who will be prosperous in their health, and give great credit to their God, but these same people can't make a go of it in business? Does their God only have power over their health and NOT their business affairs?

George and others, I'm not starting a discourse on religion or God. What I'm saying is, you either believe in a higher power, and you define what that power can and cannot do.

Or there is no higer power and we are at the mercy of random evolution.

It is my personal belief, and this has yet to be tested, is that KNOWLEDGE and FAITH are what is needed to solve the world's problems.

The young person in the barrio needs to know how life works, IN GENERAL, how his/her thoughts effect their body, how their minds move them to better places, then how their spirit is what it is all about.

There are young men on the streets making thousands of dollars, driving huge cars, gold, diamonds dripping, from their drug deals.

We've had a 20 year WAR on drugs, and we're losing more now than ever before.

How do you compete with money, power, and "family" of a gang?

Only by revealing a higher possibility, and the MEANS to MAKE IT HAPPEN.

George, your last 5 years have been for YOU, just as much as it has been for them.

You KNOW more, you've experienced more, you've been in the fast, rushing, freezing waters.

YOU have made a difference. YOUR life is different. NOW, you are faced with more choices.

Choices only you can make. But as I teach, preach, and beseech, YOU are an individual, with unique gifts, talents, EXPERIENCES.

I suspect your future lies in sharing those experiences, and in teaching the principles of possibility upon a solid foundation of KNOWLEDGE against a backdrop of FAITH...

But, your future is exactly the same as what you have taught others for the last 5 years...it will be of your choosing.

Your young friend didn't choose to get a bullet in his head, no. And from the way you talk about it, he was on the right path. He had a chance. He had HOPE. Without you, without your hope, without your encouragement, his fate would have been more certain; no escape. Ever.

But he had started to see the possibility, the alternatives. Because of you. He perhaps was making the right choices.

Whatever you choose to do George is OK, it is the right thing for you at this time.

My best to you friend,

take some time and take a walk by a real river, where they aren't throwing people in, and get a different perspective, a different view, and let God's magnificent possibilities be your guide.

Gordon Alexander

Hi George!

Your post is of great interest to me. Mauricio is of interest to me. His family is of interest to me. You are of interest to me.

One of the most enlightening books I have read in the past year is called "Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life" written by a particularly inciteful and poetic writer named Gregg Levoy. It took me a good four months to finish because I read it slowly, savoring the passages, writing notes on the pages. It speaks of responding, denying, and answering our Callings.

It is of great interest to me how intertwined our stories are, George. Read on.

I used to live in Mid Wilshire. My police station was the Rampart station. I loved my neighborhood. Colorful, eclectic, different languages, a cacophony of sounds and smells of different foods cooking in closely spaced apartments. Police helicopters, loud music, and sometimes interesting characters in my doorstop. Once I brought home a homeless woman so she could take a shower in my shower. Gave her a sack lunch and my phone number. Told her to call me or come by if she needed anything. And I meant it, too.

I have an 18 year old daughter, Bianca, who was once my neighbor. Her building was next to mine on South Kenmore near 3rd. Her Mom used to verbally abuse her really badly. Since I could not stand it, I befriended the Mom. Eventually the Mom abandoned Bianca to me. She is starting college in a week.

I used to work for a publishing division of Paramount. I loved my work, was a top performer for three of my five years there. Then my first born died at birth, and suddenly all the money and prestige, expense account, none of it mattered.

What matters is kids like Mauricio. Staying in relationship with kids whose lives matter. People who are people first and foremost, and their challenges and diagnoses second. I remember looking into the eyes of that homeless woman. She said, "Excuse me, miss, can you help me?" I remember looking deeply into her sky blue eyes which were sunken in her weather beaten face. I touched her hand and said, "Yes, I will help you."

You have touched Mauricio, his family, and probably many others you are not even aware of touching.

When you heart calls, answer it. When your heart tells you to take a rest. Take a rest.

You make a difference.

With Great Purpose and Passion,

JULIE


Dare to Discover Your Passion!