Beanum Radiates Winning Spirit

I am not satisfied with the level of coverage that our media provided in our recent city election. I believe that the media had a responsibility to reveal that there were candidates who were only self-serving and working for a manipulative vote. I believe that our citizens were the losers on April 8 when they voted for one councilperson and one councilperson only or, what is worse, failed to vote at all.

Someone once said that the person who is successful in only one area of life is a failure. Could this statement refer to a councilperson whose only claim to fame seems to be his 16 years on the City Council? This thought has caused me to think very seriously about our recent (Cerritos) City Council election and the incumbent that failed to regain his seat, Alex Beanum. Alex has overcome the greatest of adversities and has been successful in his efforts because he has kept reaching up and reaching out.

My wish for Alex is that he will always remember that he is a winner. I can think of no better way to describe a winner than to quote the late Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach. He once said: “After the cheers have died and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written and after you are back in the quiet of your own rooms and the Super Bowl ring has been placed on the dresser and all the pomp and fanfare has faded, the enduring things that are left are: the dedication to excellence, the dedication to victory and the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.”

Alex Beanum did just that. He has given us a legacy that says you can win, you can succeed if you first have the right attitude, the right goals.

The following is how I perceive Alex Beanum and his principles:

1. Today he has begun a new life--he has filled his mind with good thoughts.

2. He has learned to greet each day with love in his heart. He has made love for his community his greatest weapon.

3. He has persisted until he succeeded. He knows that he was not born into this world for defeat; he was born to win.

4. He is nature’s greatest miracle--he believes in himself.

5. He has learned to live each day as if it were his last.

6. He is the master of his life and emotions.

7. He has learned to laugh at the world and stopped taking others and himself too seriously.

8. Each day he multiplies his values a hundredfold.

9. He believes in acting now--he does not practice procrastination.

10. Alex has learned to pray and when he prays, his cries are only cries for guidance.

Alex has created an awareness in those of us who truly know him that says, “You can win, you can succeed if you first have the right attitude, the right goals.” Alex was not a loser in this election. Only those who allowed the vote they cast to be manipulated by voting for one councilperson and only one are losers. Even greater contributors to our loss, as residents of Cerritos, are those who failed to vote at all.

Those two factions, who failed to assume a sense of responsibility in exercising their right to vote or in living by the implied rules of an honest election, will never know how the election would have turned out if they would have had the courage to exercise their right to vote for three candidates. They indeed were and are the true losers.

--MARGURETTE NICHOLSON

Cerritos