love – Page 7 – The Corrigan Encore

Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine and at last you create what you will.
George Bernard Shaw

Imagination is important for success and childhood development. Imagination is truly the beginning of creation. Everything created or modified by humanity started in someone’s or a groups imagination as an ideal.

Without a vision the people will perish

On the website for International Women’s day the site asks the visitor to “Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.”

As a exercise today I have really tried to imagine this new type of world. What does a world without bias, stereotype or discrimination look like? It is hard to imagine because we do not live in this world however I imagine that world would not be free of differences but celebrate the differences and work together to achieve good for all genders.

The bets way to imagine something is to practice doing it. It is small wins and steps that give us the skills to grow our imagination. Today work hard to celebrate, acknowledge and respect all genders and do as much good as you can for all people

War

March 7, 2022 John Corrigan

It is day 7 of Women’s History month and it is also the 12th day of the Russian Invasion of the Ukraine. Russia an Ukraine are at war. The invading force is Russia and the defending force is the Ukraine. Russia is facing economic sanctions and here in the United States we are getting press coverage of the horrors of war, some have family members trapped overseas looking for refuge from the war.

There is a song that Keith Urban sings called Female. The initial lyrics are;

When you hear somebody say somebody hits like a girl
How does that hit you?
Is that such a bad thing?
When you hear a song that they play saying you run the world
Do you believe it?
Will you live to see it?
He goes on to sing about how equality can be and will be achieved but not unless woman believe in themselves and society works towards seeing them as true equals.
I grew up seeing photos of war and hearing stories about war. When I joined the U.S. Army women were prohibited from being in combat positions. Women were not allowed to serve in combat positions in the U.S. Army all the way up until 2015!

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War is truly hell and I do not wish war on anyone ever anywhere, however to assume a woman cannot participate in battle is foolish and fly’s in the face of history. Here is a list of 16 women who were wartime heroes.

War brings out tenacity, brutality, calculated nature, idealism, and pragmaticism in people. According to Margret MacMillans new book, war brings out the best and the bestial.

Men and woman are truly equals sharing the best and the bestial and no one should ever stand in the way of a woman or a man who wishes to fight for their country. Perhaps instead of stopping men and women from fighting efforts would be better spent on diplomacy that would cease the cause for the war in the first place .

Who are you mad at?

February 25, 2022 John Corrigan

Last year my niece told me that her favorite song was “I’m mad at Disney” by Salem Ilese. We were at the pool and I almost fell out of the chair. This is a seven year old who owns all the princess dresses. Then I listened to the song and me the tow of us did a Tik Tok Video with her dancing to the song.

The song “I’m mad at Disney” is very catchy and the singer has a beautiful voice. The lyrics are not profound but they touch on a topic that I call growing up. When I was seven, eight, nine, ten all the way to basically high school, I was being raised on a diet of pop culture that included John Hughes movies, Comic books, GI Joe and Double Dare.

In the song “I’m Mad at Disney” the singer mentions how life is not really a fairy tale and life and love is messy. Salem and my niece are right kind of. Life and love are messy and most fairy tales are clean but, life and love are hopeful and fun and can be full of joy just like a fairy tale.

I like watching plays with little kids in them. Sometimes the kids come out know all their lines and crush it and sometimes the kids come out know none of their lines fall all over the set and still crush it. How can this be? How can the kid get up there forget their lines and stumble around and still crush it? Because, love. With an audience full of loving and supportive family and friends no one ever fails. Life is kind of the same way. If you are loving and surround yourself with loving people than you haven’t ever really failed and your life is like a fairy tale just a messy more real one.

We have that too

February 15, 2022 John Corrigan

Rob Bell wrote a few books, One book in particular received some mixed reviews. Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, that is the books name. Let me see the book addresses the question ” would a loving God send people to eternal torment forever?” It’s a great read and is one of those books I like to buy and give away.

There is a line in the book where Rob Bell mentions how young believers in the Christian religion will move to a foreign country in a missionary capacity and introduce the religion of Christianity to people only to be greeted with “Oh we have that here too, only we call it___”. Many religions throughout the world and time share the same stories.

My wife is right at the end of a history course she is taking for her degree, and I have been helping her with some of her assignments. She really doesn’t need my help I think she asks for it so I will not feel so useless. Reading history I cannot help but see how religious disagreements on many (shared) stories, has generated violence even war and genocide.

It seems that many religions have common ground as do most people and that meeting on this common ground can be a beautiful thing however we do not need to look far if we want to find divisive elements either. Dr. Seuss wrote a book called the Butter Battle . The book outlines how two sets of people differed on what side to butter their bread and the difference created divisions and military build ups.

I plan on challenging myself today to look for common ground with everyone I meet, I know that I will find it and I challenge you to do the same.

We all do it

February 14, 2022 John Corrigan

This morning I wasn’t sure what to blog about. I was stumped (for a microsecond), then I thought about what I was actually getting ready to do. I was about to blog or tell a story.

Ahh story telling, it is what separates humans from the animals. Here is a wonderful right up on the difference in humans and animals. My wife and I went to a Trace Adkins concert and he told us that he is a story teller. That night I thought it was odd that he called himself a story teller and not a singer but on the ride home as I was getting my hearing back I realized that he was right.

Musicians, teachers, parents, siblings every human on earth who interacts with another human on earth is a story teller. Even the hermits tell stories to themselves.

I think about money and how money is intrinsic to the story that comes with it. There is a book that has been on my to read list forever and one day will move to the read one. It is titled “Money: The True Story Of A Made-Up Thing” and written by Jacob Goldstein. If you think about without story telling money would not work. It is the story and belief in the story that gives the currency its widely accepted value.

How and why we tell stories matter. Stories should be told to build people up and help not hurt. There is a wonderful Disney movie called “Encanto”. The story behind the movie involves a multigeneration family in Columbia and one attractive feature of the story is the lack of a central antagonist or bad guy. Even without the bad guy the story is compelling and the plot moves quickly (its a great movie).

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Bad guys and villains’ in stories can be dangerous. Stories are great at creating empathy but they are also good at creating hate. Who doesn’t love to see a bad guy get his comeuppance? This is dangerous because life is not black and white. Life is messy and very gray.

“The color of truth is gray.” –Andre Gide

When you tell your stories today and you will, be sure to act kindly compassionately and humanely.

Why do they do that

February 3, 2022 John Corrigan

I grew up going to public schools in Cleveland Ohio. I was always one of the smallest kids in every class through my academic career. I joined he army at the age of 18 and grew at least 8 inches in one year.

My size made me a target for bullies throughout my academic career. I have never understood bullies but have meet many of them and watched them conduct themselves. Bullies do not disappear when you become an adult either. (I watched the United States elect a bully to be president of the United States).

I have always been curious about what it is that makes a bully act as a bully. I know there is often a lot of pain within the bully but I do not think that is the only thing that makes a bully act as they do.

Most bullies belief that they are right.

The bully and the bullies defenders will tell others that the bully is not harming others but defending themselves, they are not a bully but a bold protector. Anyone that acts from a position of power to do harm to others is a bully. Anyone even if the other person “deserves” harm.

We should only work to help others. Harming someone will never help them. Some people will say that hurting someone is the only way that they will learn, this is a bad philosophy that causes generational harm and bullies.

If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.
– Dalai Lama

Bullies do what they know

A bully has been taught that harm can be help and this is false, harm is not good and will be harmful not helpful. It can be tempting to act harmfully towards others however when we do this we are affecting generations of people in a negative way. That one act of harm will cause ripples. On the flip side being helpful will also cause ripples. It is never to late to make positive change.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”
–MLK Jr.

This post has been heavy on quotes and I am sure that is because of how important the subject is. The damage from doing harm and believing we are right has caused wide scale genocide that is being taught to children as wholesome accomplishment. Christopher Columbus did not discover the United States of America, The pioneers did not settle the western front of the United States of America.

…These people are very simple as regards the u.se of arms, as your Highnesses will .sec from the seven that I caused to be taken, to bring home and learn our language and return; unless your Highnesses should order them all to be brought to Castile, or to be kept as captives on the same island; for with fifty men they can all be subjugated and made to do what is required of them…
— excerpt from the diary of Christopher Columbus

The removal of the tribes from the territory which they now inhabit . . . would not only
shield them from impending ruin, but promote their welfare and happiness. Experience
has clearly demonstrated that in their present state it is impossible to incorporate them
in such masses, in any form whatever, into our system. It has also been demonstrated
with equal certainty that without a timely anticipation of an provision against the
dangers to which they are exposed, under causes which it will be difficult, if not
impossible to control, their degradation and extermination will be inevitable.

— President James Monroe

Bullies have done far too much harm and the progress they brought the world is bloody and unstable. Nothing earned through harm will last. Harm always causes more harm violence will always end in violence if humanity is ever to suffer it will not be through harm it will be through love. If you believe that love is the answer and suggest anyone harm another from a place of power or you yourself harms another from a place of power you are not acting out your belief you are lying to yourself.

Any belief that makes us harm others is a bad belief.

What happens when it’s not there anymore?

January 26, 2022 John Corrigan

Belief and hope go hand in hand.

I was working for a company as a janitor. I would clean floors every week night at the local grocery store. The employees were paid every two week. Every other Friday I received a paper check (it was a while ago and we didn’t use direct deposit). One Friday I went to work on the payday and there were no checks available. The manager did not know why and let all the employees know that we would vote to see if we worked that night or not.

Me and the rest of the employees worked everyday because we believed that we would get paid every other Friday. The believe was manifested through hope and the hope was bolstered through getting a check every other week. The week we didn’t get the check shook our faith and belief.

The CEO visited the Monday after with payroll checks and spoke to the workforce in an effort to shore up the belief.

Sometimes things happen that can shake our belief in ourselves, religion, organization, fill in the blank. When this happens we need to “recharge” our faith. We should never loose faith in ourselves but we can and it does happen.

How do we fix it? We invest and support ourselves with positive work. Work on yourself. If you feel like you are loosing faith work on you. Take care of yourself and surround yourself with good people and things. You will only get your belief back through actions.

What we allow

January 25, 2022 John Corrigan

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt

My step son complained to my wife about his older sister. His sister had said something sideways about my step son, some insult from an older child to a younger one. My wife let the older child now that she should not insult her brother then, my wife let the younger child know that he was allowing his sister to live in his brain rent free. She let the boy know that he should not do this.

My wife is a wise woman and this advice was wisdom incarnate. It really was.

Not everyone will be your cheerleader or your supporter, it is a sad truth that there may come a time when someone is working against you. There maybe someone who is trying to hurt you and they may try to physically hurt you but more often you will find that they will try to psychologically, and mentally harm you.

If someone can live in your mind the damage they do there is far more impactful than physical damage. We may or may not have a choice about physical damage but we do have a choice about our mentality.

Be cautious today about who we allow to impact our minds.

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“I will never let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” – Gandhi

We should never allow anyone to walk through our minds or live rent free in our minds if they are negative and trying to harm us. We should work to help those folks and give them positive enforcement and support.

I am

January 24, 2022 John Corrigan

Teams, whether we want to or not we are all part of at least one team. Humanity. A team is a group of people preforming independent tasks to accomplish a common mission or objective. What is humanities goals or objectives? Well it depends on who you ask. At the most basic level it is humanities goal to survive and evolve. At a higher level I hope that humanity would; love, learn, progress, and become all around better as we evolve.

Bill Nye stated that evolution is not survival of the fittest but survival of the good enough. If something in the germ line did not kill you it makes it to the next generation. Whatever it is like lets say an appendix. I think that as a team humans can do better but how? How can we do better with our independent tasks?

First and foremost we need to love others or at the very least be empathetic to others. When I only focus on myself I will often engage in tasks that are not helpful for the team. As a matter of fact the tasks can actually be harmful to the team.

I is hard to empathize with someone we do not know or understand. So secondly we need to learn about our team. What are parts of other cultures, religions, and world views and why?

Armed with empathy and education it should give us teammates a map and a list of new tasks for meeting our teams goals.

“I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team. I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate Champion.” Mia Hamm

It can be easy to forget about team human, however we should always remember that we are part of that team and we should always act like it

peace

Get out of town

January 20, 2022 John Corrigan

Get out of town! No seriously you really should get out of town of course this travel should be done as safely as possible with the current pandemic still raging. Get the vaccination and booster prior to traveling and when in a crowd wear that mask.

Travel brings with it perspective and education. Every group has a culture that is part of that places and persons identity. It is perspective and education that bring unity and compassion along with understanding.

When we get out of town we learn that the world is big and small at the same time. People who look and speak differently than us still have the same primary concerns. No matter who or where you are Maslovs hierarchy of needs seems to be the goal. How we meet those needs can differ wildly and that is where it can be interesting and educational.

I live in a pretty warm climate, I rarely break out a sweater or jacket, I used to live in a more severe climate and would be often seen wearing a sweater and jacket.

I have lived and worked on US military installations and security was present and not uncommon, I have also lived in areas where the security presence was almost non existent and was on the periphery. Security was handled through trust and was reactionary.

In the Steve Jobs biography there is some detail about the time Jobs spent living on a commune picking Apples. Commune living is attractive to some for various reasons I have never lived this way however the strong family bonds are quite attractive.

Different areas of the world honor different people for various accomplishments. Some rural places award livestock raised by farmers and produce grown by farmers. Other communities give out awards for running or cutting down trees the fastest.

It is through meeting all our needs that we learn who we truly are and chances are high that not all our needs will be meet with the perspective and education that comes from only having seen or experienced one group of people.

The world is roughly 24, 901 miles wide (circumference at the equator) it is large and chances are high that you will through travel find people and places that help you meet your needs or better yet through travel you can help others meet their needs!

Get out of town!! Do it today and do it safely

Tag: love

Imagine a world

War