Beef.

Dorky fact #193 about us:

We are documentary geeks.

Especially now that we have Netflix. We have a huge selection of documentaries to watch, from episodes from the National Geographic channel to independently made movies.

We have watched everything from SuperSize Me (again for me) to something about sharks to a documentary on MS13 (I definately recommend it; very interesting). However, this week, we have watched Beef and Beef 2. Basically, it's a run down and history of rapper battles.

For example, Beef has a huge focus on the East vs. West stuff that involved Ice Cube and Easy-E and Puffy and Dre. And then, it went into the history of what led to the death of TuPac and Biggie Smalls.

There's also a lot of explaination about the truth behind the songs, especially the songs that were written and recorded in an effort to throw a diss at another artist, for whatever reason.

Anywhoo, there are two points that I want to make:

One - I do not want to be the kind of person that throws out a bunch of hatred with my words. Whether it's on the blog scene or face-to-face with a friend, I want to do my best to continue to be positive, or at least understanding, and to never be blatently hateful. So, if you ever see or hear me going too far, please stop me and point it out. I think that oftentimes, we just get so wrapped up in our stance, our emotions on the issue, that we fail to think things through.

I know I do it most when talking about Jose's affair, and it's not that I ever say anything hateful about the other chick, but there are times when I'm uncertain of what to call her and end up using not the nicest words. Just stop me. If we are friends in real life, you probably know her name, and in that case, I should just call her by that. If not, I need to continue to use the term "the other chick" instead of other words.

Two - the entire documentary series (there are more that we have not watched), reminds me of a story that I've read. I believe it's one of those viral email story things, but I re-heard it this week when I saw Valerie Tutson speak at a local elementary school assembly.

The story goes like this:

One day, he went to the wise man’s home and asked for forgiveness. The wise man, realizing that this man had not internalized the gravity of his transgressions, told him that he would forgive him on one condition: that he go home, take a feather pillow from his house, cut it up, and scatter the feathers to the wind. After he had done so, he should then return to the wise man’s house.

Though puzzled by this strange request, the young man was happy to be let off with so easy a penance. He quickly cut up the pillow, scattered the feathers, and returned to the house.

“Am I now forgiven?” he asked.
“Just one more thing,” the wise man said. “Go now and gather up all the feathers.”
“But that’s impossible. The wind has already scattered them.”
“Precisely,” he answered. “And though you may truly wish to correct the evil you have done, it is as impossible to repair the damage done by your words as it is to recover the feathers. Your words are out there in the marketplace, spreading hate, even as we speak.”

There are many variations of this story, but the message is all the same. Words can go far and can spread far and you never really understand the extent of damage that you can cause by what you say.

And, to be honest, I've screwed up in this regard far too many times. I just want to be more aware...