Giving Thanks

This week at BEATS, our mentee/mentor matches got together for a Thanksgiving party where each group sat down and came up with a menu, guest list, activities, and a list of people not invited to their ultimate fantasy holiday dinner. Our groups really got into the project. They were able to invite anybody (past or present) so we had guest appearances from the king of pop himself, Michael Jackson, to funny guy Kevin Heart. Meanwhile the food was being prepared by Chief Ramsey in the kitchen. We had lots of fun activities for all ages- some guests watched old movies, played guitar hero, and some talked amongst themselves while others took a nap before the big meal. But not the basketball fans- they couldn't miss all the fun happening outside where Michael Jordan was holding a dunking contest. During the group presentations, the room was full of laughter and everyone had so much to be thankful for.

Thanksgiving Gratitude and Prayer for Healing

I give thanks for moments of peace, love and respect; for the ability to imagine a just and loving world; for the beauty of all the expressions of love and gratitude that are abundant on this day.
As we offer each other nourishment of body and spirit, let us also offer deep gratitude for the original generosity of the natives of this land; prayers for healing of deep historical wounds that are too often revisited upon the less privileged and hope that we will learn to live together in harmony.  

I raise my glass to family and friends, to my YMC family and all who share this path of healing and to my beautiful partner Susan.

Peace and blessings,

Tony

CEO/Founder

Youth Mentoring Connection



Thanksgiving Message: Gratitude is the heart’s memory

What My Heart Remembers

A suicidal boy choosing life and all that it can bring 
A young man stepping off the street and into the ring
The proud and wounded girl finding her light in strife
The man-boy banger choosing peace and giving up his knife
Six boys in a circle of 20 sharing how the banger saved their lives
An angel seeing who I am and agreeing to be my wife

She sat meditatively, sipping tea alone at the coffee bar
As I counseled the hurt and fearful girl from the phone inside my car
Our second date, I had shown up late and now this – not doing well so far
So I said I’m sorry and she replied. “Don’t apologize for who you are.”

Wounded men and wounded boys standing in our fears
Stripping down defensiveness so our souls can push out tears
Feeling buoyed by brotherly love when I feel my brother’s near
A sister’s pledge by oleander trees remembered after all these years

The knucklehead who claimed his gift and stood to end a gang
A hundred candles held up high as to the earth we sang
The young lady taking a chance on life to give my heart a tug
Folding back her hair to reveal the scar from papa's coffee mug
The young man sharing inner pain, the one they called a thug
The homie crossing a circle of men to risk a soulful hug

He held up a mirror to his pal risking the violence held inside
To see if finally the wounded pal could overcome hair-trigger pride
The elegance of men and boys who subdued the rage that would not hide
Fierce love met tears and rage from years of pain that would not die
Understanding grew because of hearts that knew stakes were way too high
We shared two broken hearts that day and sat locked eye to eye
The fatal gaze of gangster days and all the friends that lied
Gave way for a moment when love stepped in and rage was pushed aside

My heart holds so many more memories than I have rhymes:
The man who agreed to mentor me,
another who called me to this way of life
Friends, family and lovers who have helped shape me
My August (in both senses of the word) friends in Mendo
Enemies who showed me how strong I can be
The young people who call me "pops"
The men and women who stand next to me and offer their mentoring to youth
The young adults who give of themselves each day for such little pay so the youth and communities we serve can find some peace and healing
The Colombiana who bravely shares this path and my heart of service!

To you all, I offer a toast of Happy Thanksgiving from my heart’s memories.

Tony

Tony LoRe
CEO/Founder
Youth Mentoring Connection

Thanksgiving - Gratitude for Corn, the cause of immigration problems

The Pilgrims were the first uninvited immigrants to the United States. Ironically, they were poor and starving, having exhausted the food supply brought with them.  The natural citizens of this land, the Wampanoag tribe witnessed their plight. What the Wampanoag didn't do was worry that there wasn't enough for everyone. They didn’t adopt immigration policies or exalt the settlers to go back to where they came from.  Instead they observed the old human practices of welcoming and compassion. They taught the Pilgrims to fish the local waters and hunt native game and wild fowl, including the turkey, which they called "earth eagle".

So, in the fall of 1621 the Pilgrims adopted the native custom of holding a Harvest Festival, a three-day feast to celebrate the bounty of spring and summer. The festival took on a double meaning of gratitude as they not only thanked Mother Earth for the bounty, but the indigenous peoples for welcoming and teaching them.

That first Thanksgiving Dinner did not have cranberry jam, sweet potatoes or pumpkin pie. However it did most likely have corn - a grass domesticated by the Aztecs and Mayans of Mezoamerica that they called "maize".  It eventually made its way up to North America and the Wampanoag natives taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate maize along with beans and squash.

Now, in a cruel twist of fate U.S. agricultural policy has destroyed the Mexican corn sector by subsidizing American grown corn to the tune of over $10 billion a year. U.S. corn is then sold back into Mexico reversing 10,000 years of historic flow in the other direction. Poor Mexican farmers cannot compete against US producers. They and their workers are thrown further into poverty and desperately attempt to sneak across the borders to harvest our crops.

So, when these people attempt to cross back over into the lands they originally owned, instead of adopting the compassion that the Pilgrims enjoyed from the Wampanoag, we adopt a scarcity mentality fueled by the politics of fear. Fear that they are going to get what’s ours (which was originally theirs).

This Thanksgiving let’s replace fear with abundance. Let’s begin again to understand that our fate is intertwined with that of every other human on the planet. George Kent, author of Freedom from Want: The Human Right to Adequate Food argues that:

“Human rights do not end at national borders, and neither do the corresponding obligations... A child may have the misfortune of being born into a poor country, but that child is not born in a poor world. The world as a whole has the capacity to sharply reduce global hunger and malnutrition. It is obligated to do that.”

We knew this once. After WWII 85% of Americans, responding to a plea from President Hoover, agreed to the reinstatement of wartime rationing so that we could share our abundance with the rest of the world.

Americans are, by nature, an optimistic and compassionate people. If we could only learn to reject the divisive fear tactics that keep us subservient to wealthy interests we might begin again to believe in abundance, to understand that the world doesn’t have to be divided into winners and losers. Then we might someday be able to partake in a global celebration of Thanksgiving.

yours in gratitude,

Tony

CEO/Founder
Youth Mentoring Connection