The Beat

The beat. The GoGos have got it. Why can’t you get it? The journalist has their beat. The cop has their beat. A street sweeper has his beat. A good song has its beat. Your heart. I could go on and on.

 

It’s not always what you think. It can turn the most innocent of bystanders into the hardest of criminals. Someone caught in the wrong situation, fulfilling their daily routine, a jobber or a crook that slipped up. Who knows why we take the beats we do. There is no one right answer. Many times our beats are assigned, and others, we make our own. 

 

The latter would indicate that people pick the one that best suits themselves. But sometimes, a beat is not in a person’s best interest, and all of a sudden, your beat crosses the law’s beat. And remember, the law is that most well intentioned of things that get weaseled into a corner until it is forced to compromise. Right?

 

The law, on their beat will interfere with you at whatever opportunity it can find, when you are on your beat. Maybe even block your access to enhancing the public good by hiding the private bad.

 

The journalists’ beat is a tougher taco to make though. And with good reason. There’s very little consistency as I have already noticed in the news gathering grind. Sure you have to stick to what you’re assigned and stay on top of that and make that the focus. But often, stories come your way that force you to break outside that mold you have been melted into.

 

Brings us back to that age-old problem of knowing thyself. Know what you’re good at or know what your mission is. Know your best contribution. But take the time to know others’ as well. Step outside the norm and tackle topics that are tough and challenging. It’s all experience. And that’s the rub, as the good Doctor would say.

 

Also, consider that the word has so many meanings. The beat can be a good loud and fast show. A great thunderstorm of sound charging your battery for the road ahead. A beat, a melody, a lyric that inspires your beat can be just the thing to jump start your mission.

 

This blog is a skeleton, an idea ready for expansion. It needs your feedback. What is your beat? What is your daily experience and how can you expand that? And too, how can you make that experience weave a common tartan of existence that we all share? Tartans have combinations as intricate and infinite as the color spectrum will allow.

 

We all share at least one thing in common. We are all human. Even if aliens are among us, do they not also share the human experience as well? Find your beat. Know it, own it, share it daily.