Quote about “King and pawn go into same box…”
I didn’t get a chance to write this down when Calm and Serene Angel and Incredibly Radient Marcela came to our table with the quote. I kind of regret not having thought this at a time when I could say it out loud around some of the my young friends I was with.
First of all, I was with a new friend that I just met that afternoon. We were at the Starbucks on Pine St in downtown Long Beach. One of my friends was teaching his girlfriend how to do job interviews and write a resume. It turned out that the couple offer their place as a self described “safe haven” to some of the youngsters that live on their block. Sometimes they come to crash there for various reasons from ditching school to getting away from their parents doing drugs to hide out when they feel overwhelmed. But recently because neighbors worry about “why are all these kids coming and going from this apartment” they are being evicted. I don’t know the whole story, but I think in that area of town people assume something like “They must be selling drugs”. It’s a big thing to open a door like that especially in an area where gangsterism and drug use (pot heads will pawn your dog if they could) is prevalant. So sometimes trying to be a king lets you get evicted like being a Pawn. Equinamity?
Second, the guy has been trying to find a job. He’s on parole. Very recently he was doing the same type of job my friend doing the resume teaching was doing. He was mentoring at Job Corps in Long Beach. Now, he’s unemployed. He’s been out of jail for an year and trying to get back into normal life, but that criminal record might be a big obstacle. I won’t get into why he went to prison recently because I don’t really know the whole story. But I will say that he regrettfully told us how when he was 14 years old him and his friends robbed the jewelery store across the street. So the King and the Pawn going back into the same box could be applied to his regret, how he got himself to a position where he was helping other young men like him at one point, to now where he’s trying to find a way to get back and stay positive. You can try to imagine the convesation if you are ever at that starbucks and look across and see that jewelery store. Equinamity?
 Third, I heard a story about how a 54 year old woman got a heart transplanted from a 2 year old that died in a car accident. Her son was saying how much she appreciates life now and how he she advized him to quit smoking but also not worry so much about it to where he won’t enjoy life. That appreciation kind of made her be a little more alive, almost like a 2 year old. Equinamity?
 4th, I’d like to mention skate park on the corner of Harding and Atlantic in North Long Beach. Youngsters from different gangs, different “races” (not a real word), different “socio-economic backgrounds” (not a phrase I understand fully) come together and watch each other do cool tricks or just hang out. Some of them just stay there to be out of the house or smoke out with friends. Even though there were some gang related gun shots just a few weeks ago on the other side of the streets, everybody feels safe. When someone falls, people go and ask “are you ok?”. When someone does a cool stunt everybody that sees it gives a “woop” or a claps. Equinamity?
 5th, the night of Dec 30th 2006, I saw again a woman, like a night sky with all the galaxy’s stars in view, who could be undoubtedly (for sure at least on a few days of 2006) the world’s most beautiful (inside and out) woman for a few seconds. She made everybody and the whole world seem more beautiful.
PS. I was kind of lucky to be in Seva Cafe for a few minutes… just long enough to make that connection, which I made at around 4am this last morning of 2006, after Angel and Marcella came to our table