Streets of Blood 3

Sirens wail, as two young Chicano's

lay still upon the cold hard pavement.

“Did anyone see who shot them?”

Asked a policeman of the slowly

gathering crowd.

But nobody knew or saw anything.

Many parents were silently thankful

It wasn’t there kids. The sound of

blood gurgling came from one of the

young men.

“Help him,” screamed a woman who

stood nearby as the paramedics arrived

and worked hard to stabilize them.

Working feverishly they loaded them

upon the ambulance.

Outside the ambulance friends,

and relatives gathered, and a little

girl was holding her teddy bear, as she

took in the scene while her mother

and sisters cried tears of desperation.

The police asked the one who was

conscious what had happened and

were met with the usual silence of

barrio streets machismo.

The little girl holding the teddy bear

Asked, “What happened to daddy?”

as the ambulance rolled away lights

still flashing they pull into the hospital.

Days later, flowers are laid upon the

grave of one of the young men, as

prayers are said over another life

wasted over senseless and stupid

machismo. 

Now besides a grave, a little girl 

clutches the teddy bear her father 

had just given her. It was to become 

her only memory.

Senseless violence and machismo

does not rep La Raza. It only destroys

the hopes and dreams of those we

love the most!

 Copyright 2017 Frank Solis

All Rights Reserved

What is life really about?

Brilliant minds lost in the vortex of their

sadness. It strikes me every day as I see

more and more young Chicano's trying to 

figure out what life is really about.

I see eyes searching but never seeing,

ears intent on listening but hardly anyone

speaks to them. Millions of young brown

faces eager to learn yet so few teachers 
are found.

Young people, life is about happiness

and enjoying oneself and the most

important thing is the love you share with 

your loved ones. It’s about seeing the smile 

on a quinceañeras face and watching a baby

chewing on its hand.

It’s about seeing the smile on that special

persons face when you tell them you just

got a job and watching them beam with

pride when you get your first paycheck.

Life is about many such wonderful and

precious things such as good friends,

respect, love, and honor.

Life can be whatever you choose for it

to be. Just as keys are used to turn locks

so the choices you make in life are the 
keys to the happiness you seek.

Take a look at the alcoholic, drowning

in his self-made misery or the drug

addict who will steal from his own

mother if given half the chance.

The person who engages in unsafe sex

until they find out they have picked up

an incurable disease. And finally the

tough guy who followed “the wrong

crowd without thinking,” and now

spends all his time locked up away 

from his loved ones.

That is not life, it is death! Those who

want to achieve all the wonderful things

of life have to turn their backs on all the

“fake pleasures and fake people,” who

only seek to destroy ones happiness in

life!

If you take a look at the “real locos and

locas on the streets,” you will find that

just as fire can burn the flesh, uncontrolled

bad habits and bad choices can only destroy 
ones happiness!