The Just, the Raw and the Furious: A Candid Commentary on Life in Urban America

By Edward Canchola

Book Summary The Just, the Raw, and the Furious is an in-depth conversational and enlightening narrative about the myriad aspects of popular culture and current society. Among the more compelling topics examined include the misunderstood nature of romantic relationships, the insidious effects of drugs, the hypocrisy of governmental policies, the overwhelming oppressive nature inherent in government, the crucial role of religion, and the role of death in ones life. This commentary conveys thought-provoking but substantiated views on these issues and brings the reader along a journey of self-discovery in the process. Furthermore, this is a vivid account of special circumstances and events that in the end challenge the reader to question his or hers beliefs, motives and purpose in life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 18, 2009
• ISBN: 9781450080910

Edward Canchola

I am a freelance writer from Fresno California. Known locally for my poetry, short stories, and developing mission statements for small businesses. Previously released work includes “Voices of the Soul” in ebook format, a collection of poetry of the early years. Through keen observation and very diverse past experiences, I have drawn my theories and real-life style of writing. Past experiences range from agriculture work, to construction, to auto sales, to many others, to the banking industry. I am a Third Place winner of the William Saroyan Festival short story writing contest of 1999. I hold an A.S. in Business Management. I have often contributed locally to in depth debates in classroom settings derived from my essays. I have also contributed at various local poetry readings.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

OUR MISSION

I need to start by saying that we all need to learn how to recognize our own mission, our own roles and duties. I only know we all must answer to the things that call out to our souls and realize that we all have equally important roles, even as diverse as they may be from person to person in this huge production called life. My gift to you is to share the things I’ve learned. There are two very important things we must remember everyday, the first is that we may have to take an alternate route that will allow us to fulfill our purpose, our mission in life. What is your mission? You may ask yourself, it is that which calls out to your soul, it is that need that must be met, a road that must be traveled through no matter how treacherous the path may look. Most of the time this purpose or path comes to us by accident or sometimes somebody else points it out to us. The second thing you must remember is that we can never give up no matter what obstacles may come, no matter what darkness may fall. The day we betray our own conscience, is the day we surrender everything in us that is worth saving. It is the day we lose our ability to enjoy and appreciate life. In other words if you give up your own mission you might as well be another statistic of another person who suddenly lost his or her life in some freak accident, and I say this with all due respect. There is nothing minimal about how one dies, I am merely leading to a very important point. There is only one way to live and that is in truth. If you can’t be truthful with yourself, how can you be truthful with others? You must carry out your own purpose and constantly seek out what is true and just. Don’t be easily persuaded into believing something merely because it looks pretty on the outside or because it is something that you would like to believe because it looks so comfortable. In the end all that really matters is how we lived, what we believed and how we left this planet. In other words when you make your big exit, will you be surrounded with people you loved you? Will you be able to leave with a clear conscience knowing that you indeed sought out what was true and just? Everything else besides the aforementioned three is basically killing time until we die.

THE BEST TIME OF THE DAY

It wasn’t long ago that I realized the best time of the day has always been very early in the morning. I wasn’t sure why this was, and is, all I knew is how it has always felt. It’s the best time of the day, no doubt about that, and I’ll tell you why. It’s the best time to listen to the best of God’s tiny zestful singers. You can listen to all their intricate little speeches, complaints and gossip. Almost every bird and their mother is up and planning something at six-thirty in the morning. But that’s just the beginning, of course, what really makes this time of the day so marvelous are the type of thoughts that are invoked within in you when all these elements are combined: the early cheerful birds, the sunrise, and the cool breeze patting your face. It’s the only time of the day you can’t help but to feel like it’s the beginning of something, like there is a new chance, or a new hope. It’s a feeling almost as if in those few moments a miracle can happen simply because everything is starting over, everything is new and fresh. Granted that this cycle will start over tomorrow, however; it is in those few moments that we are most likely to reflect on what the hell is it that we are doing here; where is it that we are going? Of course, for a lot of us that have to work early, we may not have much of a chance to reflect on anything. However, even us early workers will think about our lives at least on the ride to work. We briefly look at where we’ve been—that we do know. Then we look at those things, which we have some control over, and those things, which we know we don’t have any control over. It’s a time when you realize just how fragile life is and yet it always figures out a way to survive. Life will go on and your spirit will go on but of course your body will have its end and quite likely it will end when you least expect it. That’s what makes life so scary and so precious at the same time. This is why we all have to give thanks each morning to God or at least to whatever form of deity you believe in. Life is a lot like a game of musical chairs, you never know when the music is going to stop playing, and when it does you have no way of knowing if you will have the safeguard of a chair. This analogy becomes especially real to you when you’ve had a few friends or relatives close to you pass away. In any case, the early morning is the only time of the day, in my opinion, when possibilities are begging to be discovered. The very early mornings are the best time of day partly because this when you will ask yourself, Is this really it? Is this really all what my life will consist of? The reason we ask ourselves these questions is simply because, deep down inside we know there is a lot more to life than satisfying our own personal hunger for pleasure and attention and financial security. Deep down inside we know we are capable of so much more, and should be a part of something much bigger and nobler than our own personal agendas. If we are honest with ourselves its easy to see how screwed up this world is and in how many ways. Our conscience tells us every morning that we should, and must try to contribute to the development of a true and worthy way of life. Far too often we simply look over to our neighbor to see if she or he is doing anything about it. If he or she is not doing anything about the daily challenges for truth, justice and liberty, then we simply ask ourselves, why should I be the one whom has to do something about it? We become complacent, indifferent, and lazy.

We depend on someone else to improve the world so we could lay back and watch cable television with a bag of chips and a beer. A great leader once said, fatigue makes cowards out of us and he was right. My only point is here is this. Listen to your conscience when it is trying to talk to you in the early morning, question yourself, and think about what really matters in this life before it passes you by and it’s over.

THE LOCAL CAFÉ

We all have our own local coffeehouse, whether it be a major chain or a local mom-in-pop coffee shop. No matter where you live, it serves the same purpose; it’s a place to get away and chitchat, shoot the breeze etc. It’s a place to get away from the everyday humdrum and stress of your work, especially if you are with your friends, but even if you go alone. It’s a pleasant place because of the soothing background music, the potential strangers you may meet, and the bold awakening aroma of a good French roast coffee. It’s a place to get away, a place where people go to be alone and yet to be heard and noticed. It’s a place where you hope people will learn your name or at least your face. It’s a place where stories are told both real ones and made up ones, but mostly its place to go to get away from reality and daydream about a life that should have been yours; it’s a brief break from dealing with what is. It’s a haven where ideals still breath and dreams live for at least a few moments in the minds and hearts of people all around the world in those few minutes when they relax and have their cup of coffee. The reason why I even bothered to bring up this seemingly trivial subject is simple. We all need to have a place to let our minds breathe and relax at least once in a while. We all need a place to relax and dream a little about possibilities. For most of us this life will be full of problems, especially those of us that never had much of an opportunity to think about or invest in ourselves. Sometimes we get so caught up in paying bills and supporting your children, and stressing over the rent etc. that we let this life pass us by without ever living. I know this because it happened to me. We all need to have some time to relieve our minds at least for a little while once every two weeks or so and examine what is truly happening around us.

Take this time to brainstorm, create new solutions, make new decisions, and make new commitments and then stick to them. If you don’t this life will pass you by without a warning and before you know it you may find you turned into a grumpy old cynical man. You may find yourself resenting your whole life or most of it, so stop and do something about it before you find yourself there. We were not born to be simply a piece of expensive hardware with one job to do until it breaks down. Of course we all have to live our own lives. We have to live life no matter what hand you were dealt. Learning to find pleasure, hope or even peace in the place we find ourselves can be very challenging, however it is something we must pursue persistently. Finding the courage to believe in a better tomorrow is perhaps one of the most difficult things you will ever do, but you must. Likewise having the courage to continue to take risks, in spite of all the discouraging words you will be bombarded with, may be second hardest thing you will ever do, but you must. We should and need to be constantly expanding, learning, trying new things and be using parts of our brains we have never used before. This is all part our natural state of being human. Whether, you are in a jail cell, or in farm way out in the middle of nowhere, or in a major city you need to keep expanding your mind and spirit. Learn to be in a constant state of evolving and growing in any way possible. Yes I know first hand that some of us will have limited opportunities due to choices we made and some cases due to imposed limitations by entities too large to take on by ourselves. One of the major contributing factors, which bring about misery and frustration, is our lack of opportunity to learn or experience new things. This is simply because we were not built to just be one thing and live life like an industrial grade diesel engine that runs day and night for thousands of hours until it breaks down.

We are not machines, but infinite creatures with the breath of life in us. We were instilled with boundless ideas, with boundless energy, and boundless LOVE. Our main job is to bring it out from its latent place. Have you ever noticed or read about how most of the happiest and most successful people in the world don’t really sleep all that much. Four to six hours is about the average for those people, sure they take some of the best nutrition but you can only give so much credit to nutrition. Where does all this energy come from? It comes from knowing they are living out their purpose, bringing to surface all those God-given talents. We were born to do many things and help many others attain their desires but especially help them in their time of need. After all we are humans, aren’t we? This is something most people seem to forget in our present times.

CHAPTER TWO

PAPER STATUS

Let me ask you this? Why is it that people in general are always so eager to distinguish themselves from others by the clothes they wear or the food they eat, or cars they drive, just as soon as they possibly can, even if that lifestyle really isn’t within their means. Would it be so terribly bad if one day I mistook you for a person making twenty thousand dollars a year in income? Would it be so terribly bad it I mistook you for someone making forty-five thousand dollars a year when you’re making eighty plus thousand a year? I guess the possibility that we could all be equal humans beings with the same wants and needs, or hopes and dreams, or the same final