Tag: dog

G o d or d o g

John Corrigan

Yesterday my wife and I watched the movie DOG. The movie follows an US Army ranger who has had a traumatic brain injury and must take a fallen comrades dog to his funeral. The dog is also a solider and the dog and the US Army Ranger have suffered physical and emotional trauma from war.

The solider decides to drive the dog to the funeral. During the road trip the solider and the dog meet another solider and dog who have suffered trauma. The fellow solider lets him know that it is important to talk with someone about the trauma. anyone one wether it is God or a dog because without out talking it through bad things can happen.

Talk therapy also known as psycho therapy was first discovered studied and researched by Sigmund Freud in the early 1890s. Freud understood that life can be painful and confusing and that talking through our relationships and situations helps give us clarity and peace.

Computer programmers will often speak to rubber ducks when writing out complicated code. By speaking out our thoughts we can actually hear them and understand why we think the way we do. Many people do not realize what has caused their trauma and how that trauma has affected their lives.

In church as a younger person I always wondered about pray. In pray we would thank and ask for support from God an omniscient being. Why pray? If God knows everything than why do I need to mention anything to God? It wasn’t until I grew older that I realized prayers were not for the God that they were aimed at but the believer. It is through prayers (if you are praying right) that you discover epiphanies and self actualize.

Never be so busy that you cannot take the time to talk through your situations and relationships, with your God, dog, friend or rubber ducky.

No one knows

John Corrigan

“Gentlemen, we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence.”

― Vince Lombardi

Happiness is? Subjective right? I mean a memory from Sunday school growing up was the youth pastor explaining heaven. “My dad imagines heaven as a farm in the country and I imagine that heaven will be a beautiful city with sidewalks.” – youth pastor Block (courtesy of Johns childhood memories)

Heaven is like happiness. My happiness and your happiness probably do not line up. I don’t know many people but there are some that do not enjoy petting a happy dog (I know crazy right?)! Our idea of happiness changes as we live our lives too.

When I was younger I was happy at my friends house watching his snake in the aquarium, now the snakes kind of make my skin crawl a little. I saw one on a walk with my dog two days ago and nearly jumped out of my skin.

Some say that being happy is a choice. I am not sure about that. I can choice to pursue things that I believe will make me happy however if I do not receive these things will I still be happy? Also, what things will make me happy? Lots of questions no answers.

I find joy in the unknown and the search for the truth. I really do. I think that this is good because I spend a lot of life with unknowns and looking for truth. If we are completely honest with ourselves well all do.

Enjoy every moment as much as you can because we never know when we will not be here anymore.

Deserving?

John Corrigan

My favorite time of the workday is when I get home and see my wife. She is my best friend and I love spending time with her. My second favorite time of the work day is when I get home and see my dog.

Even when I worked from home and had to run out my dog would love seeing me. It could be an hour or 3 hours and he was always giddy to see me. Tail wagging ears up he just loves giving and receiving attention. I don’t know why he loves attention. I mean I know that wolves have evolved over time and there was a split. The dog became humanities best friend and the wolves are out there doing there own thing. I also know that dogs have been breed and were literally made for human companionship and it shows when I get home.

Originally dogs as companions had the major duty of protection and when the moment arises dog parents will tell you protection is still high for a dog but as humans lives changed so did the dogs. We now live longer and need more than protection we need affection and love and dogs show that in spades.

The thing about a dogs love is that it is present no matter what we do. If we deserve it or not. Our dog doesn’t care about how good or bad we were all day it will still greet you at the door show you an enormous amount of love. I think only when a dog is scared will that dog not show you love. When you are down the dog will find a way to physically position his or herself so that you can pet them. Many people who suffer trauma have found helpful therapy in being a dog parent.

I think this all out love we see in our pets that has been breed into them is something we need to learn from them. There are the terms “kicking them when they are down” and “piling on” and “even Killing them with kindness”. All these terms involve hurting someone. It is easier to harm someone than it is to help them. We pile on or kick people because we feel they deserve it but do they?

Deserved implies that we earned something. I don’t think anything is earned. I think that God, nature, the universe has given us everything, including a role model in our dogs. The giving nature of God and our dog should be our guide when we begin to decide what we and others deserve.