A Rebel at Any Age...

A person can be a rebel at any age...

Until justice is served for all around this globe...

Let us hope that rebels of all ages will continue to wage...their voices...their desires for a better world...

This is a picture of "Mother Jones..."
As you can see from her picture...

She certainly was no youngster...:)
 A Union Activist and Organizer...

A complete "rebel rouser"...

Way to Go Mother Jones...!
Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living! - Mother Jones
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/jones/MotheArJones.html

Another rebel, in my eyes, was another Mother...

Mother Teresa...

Many may not view this woman magnificent as a rebel...

Yet yes, indeed she was...

She set out to take care of the lowliest of lows...

People suffering in the streets of Calcutta...

Whilst many had little care...

She insisted and persisted with Catholic Church officials until she finally received their blessings...

Her Missionaries of Charity are still going strong around the world today...

I knew of a nun, Sister Madeline Hanot, I met her in my early twenties...

She had a great impact upon me...

A REBEL...indeed...!

She was quite old when I met her and I believe she died in her nineties and she had still been going strong...

She began homes and camps for the developmentally disabled in the San Joaquin Valley of California...

When the Church told her no...she would say "oh, yes, I know, for it is God's will that this shall be done..." :)

What was most amazing about this woman...

 Is that she always had faith and she never gave up...

When she was young during World War II...

She and other nuns in her Order would smuggle developmentally disabled people out from Germany to Belgium in the middle of the night...

All these woman risking their own lives...

What a great privilege it was to know this great woman...great REBEL...

"In forty-one years in the diocese, Sister Madeleine helped start St. Bernard’s School in Tracy, teaching music and directing the parish choir. She taught religion in Angels Camp and at St. Linus; ministered to patients at San Joaquin General Hospital and in the Adult Developmental Center; played the piano in convalescent homes; visited inmates at the women’s jail; and was involved in the peace and justice and ecumenical movements.

When she died in 1999, the message of her life remained: the works of mercy." Diocese of Stockton

I am a rebel...as many of you may well know...

I began as a young girl...

And I shall continue to be until the day that I die...

What I have done and what I have accomplished I only share just a small amount...

When I do...it is only to offer inspiration or bring education...

Do I have more work to do...oh yes, most certainly...

Yet, of this from now on...

I must keep within my heart...

I am thankful to the three woman I shared with you...

Oh, and there are so many more...

So remember...if you please...

That a REBEL can be of any age...

And that it is the REBEL who brings change...

“Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it.”

― Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.”

Albert Camus Quotes

“Learning is always rebellion... Every bit of new truth discovered is revolutionary to what was believed before.”

Margaret Lee Runbeck Quotes

Musical Selection: RBD: Rebelde Live in Rio

http://youtu.be/Ki5fnkZ1uAk

REBELDE...REBEL...!

I shall continue my series of oppressed peoples around the globe. I will finish up more on the American Indian and then I wish to do a piece about Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatistas(EZLN) and how their movement began in 1994 with the commencement of NAFTA...and I shall continue on from there with others...I send my love to all. May light, love, & peace shine upon us all. En paz y amor, Maria

Maria Juarez Beam

 

The American Indian...Just a few Sentiments for Now...

I have so many feelings and sentiments running through my veins right now that I feel the need to express a few.

It has been a difficult day of news of the world and writing helps me to allow deep feelings express and transform. I am following up on my pictorial of last night, "Welcome to the Rez," although this is no near the piece I would ultimately care to create. I simply need to express some thoughts and feelings within my heart.

First of all, what a powerful image of this beautiful American Indian, and to me, this represents the enormity of strength, power, and gentleness of our Native Peoples. These are faces and qualities that many do not witness, for we have hidden the American Indian from our daily existence and our conscience.

To think that only within over 500 years, these magnificent people, and their way of living as one with our mother earth...we have basically...destroyed. Although, thankfully, the American Indian is strong and does not give up. Many continue to live the traditional ways, fight for their rights to keep the remaining land that they have, although, it is mainly reservation land, and fight to keep greed from continuing to take what is upon their lands.

In my personal opinion, every single person that lives here in the United States, ought to bow their heads in sorrow and gratitude to Our Native Peoples, for all that they once had, and once knew, was sacrificed to the alter of the fruition of this country.

I could go on more, but for tonight I shall stop. I have much historical information and personal information I want to share, but for tonight, I wanted to at least share my own personal feelings. One more thing I do wish to share is this, I remember when I was attending University as a history major, many of my professors ensured when talking of the history of the United States and the American Indian, that we do not "romanticize" the people and their culture. I personally, was in shock over this and I made myself quite clear about this statement.

...do not romanticize a people who lived in harmony with our earth, who lived in peace and and respect for all of life? (oh of course, we all know what we were taught in history...right?) ...how blood thirsty and full of vengeance the American Indian was to the pioneers and settlers, to the budding United States, how much they loved to war with each other...so many myths...it simply breaks my heart.

Of North American Indian, I have Choctaw running within my blood. I am proud, and I am well aware of the history, the true history of my peoples. It is written upon the very core of my heart, as well as the great wisdom and love.

My great love & blessings to all. Please remember to love...to love all, especially those who are persecuted due to the color of their skin or because they are indigenous...I feel this crazy modern world can learn much from those who remain close to the earth and to their indigenous roots.

Paz y amor to all, Maria

Maria Juarez Beam (Boheme)

Musical Selection: Andrew Vasquez "Memory of Mother Earth"

http://youtu.be/sXPCJFGODuY

Please Enjoy...Please love...

Welcome to the Rez...A Pictorial

I want to begin the first of my series of peoples around the globe who are in need, starting in our own country. Our Original People, the American Indian. Invisible to nearly every person living in the United States, unless you live on a Rez, or you are an activist for the rights of American Indians.

Tonight I shall let the pictures tell their own story and with any luck within the next few day I shall write a story to go with the pictures of what I know of Reservations (for I was an activist at one time) across our nation...our hidden people...OUR ORIGINAL PEOPLES...Please just look and ponder. I have also attached one link at the end that has a map of all the Reservations in the United States, 304...! There will also be a link to a youtube video of American Indian Activist & Actor, Russell Means. He is incredible. He will E-D-U-C-A-T-E you about the facts, if you can watch an hour plus video. I highly recommend...Here are just a few pictures of Reservations across the United States...

Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agreed, as you can all read the Book? ~Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket" - Senaca~

"Lose your temper and you lose a friend; lie and you lose yourself."

~Hopi ~

"We who are clay blended by the Master Potter, come from the kiln of Creation in many hues. How can people say one skin is colored, when each has its own coloration? What should it matter that one bowl is dark and the other pale, if each is of good design and serves its purpose well." ~Polingaysi Qoyawayma, Hopi ~

The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged....
Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.
You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round..... The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours....
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.
 
-Black Elk (Oglala) 1863-1950

Quotes courtesy of angelfire.com

Russell Means Youtube Video: WATCH THIS, I PROMISE YOU WILL LEARN A GREAT DEAL, AND YOU WILL BE SHOCKED AND AMAZED AT WHAT THIS WELL SPOKEN AND WELL EDUCATED MAN HAS TO SAY..PAZ

http://youtu.be/-LA-S64QY3o

Musical Selection:

Oldest Indian Tribal Song

http://youtu.be/5keuovs2NVM

Until we all meet again I send all of my love from my heart. Always, Maria

Maria Juarez Beam   I also recommend a movie "Smoke Signals":     PAZ Y AMOR...

http://www.republicoflakotah.com/2008/usa-indian-reservations/

A Broken Leg...A Broken World...It is Time for Healing

I have a broken leg...

It shall heal & it shall mend...

Of this, I have not doubt...

I broke my leg setting out to help heal a broken world...

Yet, for the time being...

I need to heal me, once again...

We must admit and truly face the reality...

No, matter how positive we long to be...

Our WORLD IS BROKEN...

And, we need to fix it...

Too many people are hurting & are suffering...

Too many people are hungering...

Too many people are war-torn...

Too many of our innocent children are dying...

Are these things that we in the West care to face...?

I feel that we must...

I feel that our demands upon this world have gone on far too long...

We want to have our conveniences...

We want to have all at our beckon call...

Yet, our world and many peoples pay a very high price for our daily living...

It is time to take a really good look at ourselves in the mirror...

And, instead of more in taking, we need to be in more of giving...

I was completely taken off guard tonight by a trailer of the film "Tears of Gaza." This is what prompted me to write these simple words. In my heart, they are words they we truly must heed. Always be thankful for what you have for there are many of our world who are living in conditions horrific. I shall continue to write my poetry, but I have also realized that it is time for me to shift some of my writing into what I originally intended, using my knowledge & research to show us here in the United States what many peoples and countries go through on a daily basis.

I do not desire to be on a "soap box," yet, I have a voice and I have been gifted with my intelligence to educate through my words. Perhaps, this broken leg of mine has brought about this shift or has brought me back to my original purpose in starting "BeamtheLightBetheChange." This is what I truly intend to beam light and with any hope, bring change to a world that is in great need of fixing and of love...

 

 

"I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world."
-- Muhammad Ali

 

"No man should think himself a zero, and think he can do nothing about the state of the world."
-- Bernard Baruch

 

I believe that we are at the point now, in the United States, where a movement is beginning to emerge. I think that the calamity, the quagmire of the Iraq war, the outsourcing of jobs, the drop-out of young people from the education system, the monstrous growth of the prison-industrial complex, the planetary emergency, which we are engulfed at the present moment, is demanding that instead of just complaining about these things, instead of just protesting about these things, we begin to look for, and hope for, another way of living. And I think that-- that's where the movement-- I-- I see a movement beginning to emerge, 'cause I see hope beginning to trump despair.
-- Grace Lee Boggs

 

Quotes courtesy of betterworld.net

 

Musical Selection:

 

U2: "Peace of Earth"

http://youtu.be/J74E6yanaO8

 

PEACE ON EARTH...MAKE IT HAPPEN

 

Tomorrow I will begin my new series with a pictorial...May we all enjoy Peace on Earth...

 

With great love & peace, paz y amor, Maria

Maria Juarez Beam

 

 

 

Mend This Broken Heart...

Yes, it takes the light to mend a broken heart...

For if you have held it in darkness...

It takes all your energy to keep it from falling apart...

A broken heart can come from so many reasons...

The loss of loved ones...

A change in life...

Feeling afraid and alone...

Friends or family gone or no longer in touch...

So many reasons for lacerations to our center...our heart...

When one has been able to stand so tall...

A broken heart can certainly make you fall...

And fall straight to your knees in pain and sadness...

Let the light shine in to help the mending begin...

Allow God above to enter...

For He shall allow the healing within...

Mending a broken heart takes great courage...

One must allow themselves to shed tears...

To feel vulnerable...

To steep into ones fears...

Let the light in upon the deepest part of your heart...

Let the light in so that you once again shall shine...

And in life again you shall take full part...

We can all have hurt in our heart...I send you love so that yours may mend...Be well all en Paz y amor, Maria

Maria Juarez Beam

God is closest to those with broken hearts. ~ Jewish Proverb

Trying to forget someone you love is like trying to remember someone you never knew. ~ Author Unknown

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. ~ Alexander Graham Bell

Quotes courtesy of Buzzle.com

Musical Selection:

Juanes: "Para Tu Amor"

http://youtu.be/yWkQbrfSvfs

LOVE, MEND, LOVE...

Robert Terrance Beam, Union Leader, War Veteran...A Great Man...

My father, Robert Terrance Beam, quite the handsome man he was indeed. This is one of his naval pictures, but without the hat. If you google his name there is nothing you can find about him. Yet, this man, my father, was a great man, a man for the working families of this country and Canada. Please allow me to share my memories of him with you.  

My father retired as International Vice President of the OPCMIA, the Operative Plasters & Cement Masons International Association. In his position, which was second to the President, it was mandatory that he move to Washington D.C. My father did not want this for his children. Personally, I think I would have loved it, but he felt that a quiet suburban city in Northern California was the place to raise his children and not a huge city as D.C. My father was in the Union for over 60 years by the time he passed away in April of 2000. How I miss my pops so very much.

Where do I begin...? My father was born to Terrance and Willa Beam. My grandad was also a Union Labor Leader of the Cement Masons (the two Unions hadn't merged during his time) According to my father, my grandad was a great pioneer in the Labor Union movement. If you think about it, the early 1900's was truly a pioneering time for Unions. Many laborers were working very long hours, often under harsh conditions, and for low wages. Labor Unions began to form, and oftentimes faced great opposition and violence, but with fierce persistence, they carried on and gained momentum and popularity.

I, unfortunately, do not remember everything that my father told me about my fabulous grandad, save for that he worked very hard for the rights of laborers and in Kansas and Oklahoma, I am sure this was no easy feat. Labor Unions began to gain respect and popularity and in 1935, the National Labor Relations Act was passed here in the United States. I do remember my father telling me that my beloved grandad was instrumental in ensuring Labor Laws were passed. A heritage to be greatly proud of.

My father, obviously followed the footsteps of his father. He began what is called, "working at the tools," when he was sixteen years of age. Working at the tools simply means you do your work with the tools of the job. He worked until the Korean War began. He enlisted in the Navy. He was stationed in Oakland, California, where he met my lovely mother at the USO.

My father returned from Korea and went back to "working at the tools." I admired this very much about my father, he rose early, came home, ahh, perhaps just about dinner time, and he always had that look of a hard working man. It wasn't many years before he began working for "headquarters," the International Association of the Plasters & Cement Masons.

Life changed at this point, now my father was in a business suit, travelling, and helping Union offices across the country and Canada get on their feet. I remember him participating in much picketing and he even received death threats. There was even an attempt upon his life, of which, thankfully, he survived.

I remember men coming to our door when they were out of work, mainly due to strikes and my dad would always ensure they had money in their pockets in which to put food upon their families table. We COULD NEVER CROSS A PICKET LINE. This was a huge taboo of our family, no matter what Union was picketing, we were never to cross due to honor and respect for the workers who were fighting for their rights.

We also could not eat many grapes growing up, for this was the great movement of Cesar Chavez. If there were ever grapes on the table...oooffff, dad would be furious. Mom learned very quickly that as long as there was the "Grape Boycott," grapes were not allowed on our table. I grew up with such great understanding of the needs and rights of all workers and especially of those who were working under the most dire of conditions. Cesar Chavez was a household name for us. What a great name to have engraved upon your heart!

"The consumer boycott is the only open door in the dark corridor of nothingness down which farm workers have had to walk for many years. It is a gate of hope through which they expect to find the sunlight of a better life for themselves and their families." (Cesar Chavez)

My father taught me so much and beginning at such a very young age that all people deserve to be treated equally and fairly. That they deserved, no matter what type of work, to be paid a decent wage and to have benefits. He taught me that a person's labor did not define their identity or their place in society. He taught me that a person's labor was a gift and a gift to be honored.

My father also taught me, due to his was experience in Korea, peace. He witnessed and experienced so many horrors. Seeing and knowing of his many friends who died. My father did not like war at all and he was always teaching me about waging peace rather than war. His influence has made me the fierce warrior that I am today in my fight against war...all of these senseless and unnecessary wars. I am incredibly grateful to my father for this and I am so proud that I can speak how I feel very strongly about my aborrance for war and my love for peace.

I honor my father Robert Terrance Beam for all that he taught me, for all that he did in the name of the working person. I find it inspiring that so many workers and Unions are coming together once again.

A great Labor Law Attorney, of whom I worked for at one time, once told me, "when your father retires, Unions will not be the same. This is how much impact my father had. Sadly, Mr. Van Bourg, was correct, for Union Busting became quite popular during the Regan Era.

I am happy to see Unions uniting once again...KEEP UP THE SOLIDARITY OF BROTHERHOOD & SISTERHOOD ALWAYS!!!

I love and miss you my wonderful father!

I have attached two links for further learning if you are interested.

http://l3d.cs.colorado.edu/systems/agentsheets/New-Vista/grape-boycott/History.html

http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2004/11/29/174322/14

I thank you once again for allowing me to share my words and my stories for they mean so much to me.

Viva en paz...Maria

Maria Juarez Beam

"It is one of the characteristics of a free and democratic nation that it have free and independent labor unions."

Franklin Deleno Roosevelt

"The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations and tongues and kindreds."  Abraham Lincoln

"History is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them."  Martin Luther King Jr.

"Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent sets the standards across the board in salaries, benefits and working conditions. If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, you owe that to the unions. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts." Molly Ivans

Quotes courtesy of http://www.nalc3825.com/Quotes.htm

My Tribute to the Man I Lost...

Brian Ross Bradley...

This is the man I loss...

I lost him to death...

He was my husband, my confidant..

He was my best friend...

It has been just over eight years now that he has been gone...

Yet, now it seems a lifetime...

He was 43 when he left this earth...

And, after all this time, I still miss him deeply...

Especially now, with both the boys grown and on their own...

My Brian is not here to share the gifts of seeing what amazing boys we have...

He is not here...

One may think that after all this time I would be able to be over him...

I can tell you this, it is not that easy...

He is still a very big part of me, my life...

I miss him with every ounce of my being...

Brian was a very good man...

He worked so very hard...

He loved his family well...

He was a great father & a wonderful husband...

Was life perfect, of course not, but we made it the best life possible...

In his younger years, Brian nearly became a professional football player...

He blew out his knees & that finished that potential career...

I think he was never able to get over that fact...

When we met, he worked for the Salvation Army...

He was always at the scenes of disasters helping out...

He also ensured, that people in need. where taken care of...

I loved this so much about him...

When we had the restaurants, he was amazing...

He was fabulous with the customers...

He made it as a family with our employees & customers...

He was very well loved...

He had a great smile & he was always jovial...

He had the silliest sense of humor...

He was an amazing father...

How he loved the boys so...

Yes, Brian Ross Bradley...

Was a very good man...

I am so sad within the depths of my heart that he is no longer here...

He touched the lives of many for the betterment...

Yes, I miss him so...

Yet, sadly, it was his time to go...

He was the man, by my side, that I shall never forget...

I thank all of you greatly for allowing me to share the sentiments of my husband passed. Love the one you are with greatly and remember to show them as much love as you possibly can each and every moment, for life is so precious...

Be well all. I send all of my love to each and everyone of you directly from my heart, Maria

Maria Juarez Beam

“I guess by now I should know enough about loss to realize that you never really stop missing someone-you just learn to live around the huge gaping hole of their absence.” 

 ― Alyson Noel, Evermore

“Have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? If so, then you know you can go your whole life collecting days, and none will outweigh the one you wish you had back.”  ― Mitch Albom, For One More Day

Quotes courtesy of  goodreads.com

Musical Selection: Il Divo "The Man You Love"

http://youtu.be/MRJLk3uHkYY

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE...

P.S. I had written a poem several months ago on my blog, "True Love Always Forgives." It is about the loss of Brian...

Musical Selection: Mana: "Vuela Libra Paloma"

You are now set free my love...