how to save a life.

last night, i went to bible study over at ascension lutheran church. (wow, right?)

as we are about to begin the prayer to end bible study, i notice that one of the kids, josh and proceeds to give one of the other kids a handshake. but this handshake was different - tucking his pinky and ring finger into his palm and leaving the middle, index and thumb out, he extends his arm and the young girl reaches out to embrace the handshake. Living on 59th Place and West Blvd., for most of my lifetime, this was a recognizable gesture.

This was a gesture to prove to his friends that he and others were familiar with the 6-0 handshake. After the young female and he engaged in the activity, he then proceeded to turn to me to greet him with the same gesture. Returning a look of annoyance, i said "you're not apart of 6-0" - thinking he was just another poser - and prepared to focus on the following prayer while he mumbled "pshhh, yeah, i am". During the prayer my mind seemed to stray to another place - why would he glorify being in a gang? why would he promote being in a gang in a church setting? he had practically been raised in this church, how could he become one of them? - these were all of the questions running through my head.

"Amen"

Part of me wanted to dismiss the situation because I didn't think he was being truthful, but I didn't want to take any chances on this one. The prayer ended, and i wasted no time to find the answers to my questions.

"John, so what's this 6-0 business about?"

he looked at me, chuckled. No answer.

"Tell me please, what do they have to offer?"

There was a long pause.

Not able to look me in the eye, he said "Well, they jumped me in a week ago and since then, everything has been better for me. They offer me protection from my enemies, reds..."

"huh? rez?"

"reds, you know, like bloods?"

"Oh, so what do the bloods have against Josh and what other enemies do you have that are so big and bad to keep you from turning to your church family for protection?"

He went on to tell me how kids would tease him in school and he would get into a lot of fights and I replied by telling him "The crips may fight some of your enemies for you but at the end of the day, your gang family doesn't care about you, they're only looking out for themselves and they're not doing anything positive for you. However, your church family is your true 'ride or die'. We're here for you no matter what and we want to see you do well in life, we want to see you do positive things to better yourself. We may not fist fight your enemies, but we can help to keep them away through prayer."

"Okay, I understand that it's bad that i'm a gang, but i don't know... it's just a good way for me to relieve stress"

"Relieve stress? you shouldn't feel like you need to fight someone to relieve stress, why don't you try other methods? punch a punching bag, try out for the wrestling team at your school, do martial arts. There are others ways to relieve stress, you can talk to someone and let it out, you can write about it in a journal or something, but honestly, I don't think being in a gang is the best solution for you. Look at you, you're smart, you're handsome, you could do a lot of positive things for yourself. And another way for you to get past your enemies is to go ahead, do well in school, and when it's time for you to finally graduate and go to college, you can go out of state like i did and move away from the madness and your enemies. It's almost like you can create a new beginning."

I wanted to tell him so many things. I wanted to tell him that the life he's glorifying or maybe even leading can cause him to go down not so good paths. I wanted to tell him that he could wind up in jail or dead even, but it was time for him to go home and i fit all of the knowledge and advice i could into 5 minutes.

the moral of this story: those with a great amount of knowledge have a great responsibility.

those of you in your late teens, early twenties, it's time for us to get serious, grow up and take on responsibilities. be a role model. the generations ahead of us are counting on us to fuck up (excuse my french. i think it's necessary)- not go to college, be involved in goon activities, and only care about spending our last dollars on clothes/not saving a penny for the future. prove them wrong.

do some positive things. continue your education. vote. read books. save a little from each paycheck. invest in stock. be a mentor to a child, help keep them out of trouble.

peace.



love always,

erin geneen wesley. (purp)