Carnival of Courage (Issue #8)

Welcome to the Issue #8 of the Carnival of Courage: A Cavalcade of Superheroes!

Greetings, All!

Welcome to a brand new issue of the Carnival of Courage. Once again there is much food for thought in the various submissions.  I'm actually on vacation this week with my honey for some private time to reconnect and replenish before Scott gets swamped with end of the year special ed evals so the Carnival had to get set up before the submission deadline I had posted.  Don't worry, if you sent something in it will make it into the next issue, provided it is on topic.

Today's Carnival will be a study in contrasts and a nice testament to how multifaceted the issue of what constitutes courage and courageous acts really is.  Some day, maybe even today, I would love to see some of you comment on your reactions after reading the various entries.  You already know I tell you how I feel and the challenges I see in trying to determine whether acts of stubbornness or pissing contests are courageous or simply childish, for example.  I don't think the questions are easy to resolve and I suspect there are some male-female differences likely in interpretation of events.  My hope is that you'll join in the conversation because the dialogue will actually help me tease out where I stand on the finer points of courage and character myself as the older I get the grayer everything, including my head, becomes. 

Having a theory of breathing won't keep you alive. You have to actually breathe, silly!

First, let me present Moses E. Miles III to you.  Moses actually got in both Carnivals here because he was sandwiched in a billion submissions for the Carnival of Entrepreneurs and when I opened the links to read his stories they actually fit in both areas. I went back to reread his posts today and do recommend that you check him out, because he is right in the thick of wrestling with some of the most challenging questions facing many of us. Namely, do it for love, do it for money? Are they mutually

exclusive? Do what I know how to do and am commited to and that I have invested in or change buses mid-ride to pursue my passion?  Can I blend what I love and what I already know with what is pulling at me but remains untested?  Huge issue among my clients, occassional issue for myself (only because I have come to see that my multiple facets are part of one diamond so I don't feel torn anymore) and I imagine for many of you reading this today. To read Moses' story head to  My Ministry: Part 1 - Origin where he talks about his experience with Steve Pavlina's Finding Your Life Purpose in about 20 minutes exercise and My Ministry: Part 2 - Purpose in which he struggles with how in the heck to actually implement what he has learned, posted at Three Sticks - www.mosesedwardmilesiii.com - Empowering, Teaching, Healing.

More inspiration from those taking the leap: GP presents No Comfort in Comfort posted at Fish Creek House - INNside Innkeeping. GP says, "Life is much more fun when you take a chance, try new things, ask for what you want and go for it. When at least you are trying to make your dreams come true."

And encouragement to keep moving when you find yourself staring at a string of failures.  You just may find yourself in VERY good company. Ellesse presents Drawing Inspirations from Your Miserable Failures posted at Goal Setting College. I particularly loved her reference to Steve Pavlina's article 5 Wealth Lessons From 20 Percent of a Millionaire. I've said it before and I'll say it again:

You want abundance and joy in your life? Serve somebody.

And now, for a little cyber-creepfest...

Cyber-stalking. This next submission was part annoying high schoolish drama, part stuff I really don't want to think about. This story which LolaLondon describes as "a tale of high-weirdness, big love, cyber-crime and the mutual insane obsession of two people that never even met" was a challenge to me.  The story grabbed me, being reasonably well written though she had us jump in mid-stream and it took a bit to figure out who was who.  Apparently she broke up with someone (Claude) who later married Mona very shortly after.  The courage was that Lola actually tracked down and confronted someone who was tormenting her in increasingly disturbing ways and for that reason I include her.  Just reading the story gave me the willies because it is a very crazy world and I really prefer not to think about how many nuts are sitting behind keyboards right now. I've certainly had a few call me and while I blow it off as a rare exception to what is otherwise a lovely rule, it was easier than I wanted to admit to be sitting in Lola's chair. I occassionally hit a saturation point of being disgusted with the world and was just wrestling with that behind the scenes when this came in. It did nothing to improve my mood. And yet, welcome to 2007.  To read the tale head to 12. A Rose by Any Other Name posted at L'undone.

And a much needed breath of fresh air...

Want to shake off some of the ickiness? Well, like a ray of sunshine, isabella mori saves the day (for me at least) with her submission walking the talk posted at change therapy. isabella says,"talk about courage! the courage to swim against the stream by walking instead of driving, the courage to singledhandedly take on the automotive industry in an entirely nonviolent way, the courage to walk through the land unprotected." I have been a huge advocate of walking forever but this man takes it to a whole new level.  (Erin, this one if for you, girl.  Woof woof says the Golden Retriever.) In a world that has gone increasingly insane, as so beautifully illustrated in the last post, this submission was good, good medicine. Hope to get more submissions from isabella, or perhaps from Aaron, himself as he continues his journey. I imagine he will have much to say about courage as he continues his trek.

Now, this is a team!

Priscilla Ortiz presents If You Think You Could... posted at Priscilla Ortiz - Journal to Prosperity, Path to Freedom Inc. Priscilla says, "This is one of the most uplifting stories I've ever come across. I attended a seminar from Team Hoyt and it was so inspirational." And I agree. If you haven't seen Team Hoyt in action, it is my pleasure to put them on your radar screen.

That concludes this issue. Thanks again to all who submitted!

Ready to join us?

Next carnival is due out on 2/23/07.You are welcome to submit any courage related post you like, whether it's your own act of bravery, big or small or that of someone who has inspired you. Share your tales from the trenches as you wrestle with those things that are stretching and challenging you.

SUBMIT TO THIS CARNIVAL by February 21st.

Because I am so awesome: I know several of my readers do not have blogs but do have stories to share. If you feel inspired to share, please e-mail me your spell-checked and well-written submission for me to consider posting on your behalf. I want to give everyone a chance to participate but I'm a one-woman show here so pieces that require heavy editing will be returned to you for fixing.

Comments

[Mose E. Miles III]

Laura,

Thanks so much for including me in both carnivals and for the prominent placing and great introduction. I'm so glad that my articles speak to the challenges faced by your readers. Thanks again. For a guy with a new blog this is priceless.

Thanks,

Moses

[isabella]

thanks, laura, for including my post, and for helping tell aaron's story. as someone who has her own carnival, i know how much work it takes to put a really good carnival together - and you've done it!

reading about all these people who are wrestling with the self employment issue - yeah, i can relate, can i ever! i have to say, though, that the idea of working for a paycheck again is so very unpalatable that it makes it easier for me to muster the courage to keep on going with building my practice.

[isabella mori]

hello - this is isabella again. i just spent about 15 mintues trying to figure out where to tag you.

and why did it take me so long? because every one of your articles is so damn good, so full of real-life insight. i got sidetracked by reading a bunch of them ...

anyways, the tag. if you or anyone who reads this has some opinion/experiences with the law of attraction, here is a blog entry

http://www.moritherapy.org/article/attracted-to-the-law-of-attraction/

where i'm starting a bit of research on this phenomenon.

[Peter]

Interesting carnival once again, L.

(Sigh). . . and just a few weeks ago we were marveling together at how the Internet can really bring people together in a meaningful way. Of course, the reality is that it can also foster horror stories like, “A Rose by Any Other Name.”

And the timing of your carnival was again uncanny. Even as I was reading Lola London’s twisted saga, I was fending-off my own temptation to become something of a cyber-stalker. (Not in a mean or threatening way, of course.)

Not surprisingly, I managed to restrain myself from doing anything that would have repercussions in the real world, but thanks anyway for the cautionary tale.

[Laura Young]

Hey P,
Yeah that was just so sobering to read. Such a different world we are in and I keep thinking back to Kitty Genovese if you remember social psych (Hey, when did that happen? It may have been local news for you at the time.)
Anonymity and intrigue...the darkside of the technology that gives us so much connection as well. It's mind-boggling.
BTW, didn't forget on the other comment your request for reference. Have to do some legwork on it as the book referring to it didn't list it but I should be able to Google. Ah, the internet...LOL.

[Peter]

The Kitty Genovese murder happened in 1964 and I remember it well – one of the most shameful episodes in the history of New York City. Hundreds of people seemed to believe that if they just closed the blinds, pulled down the shades and drew the curtains they could make the screaming outside go away.

Anonymity certainly makes it easy for people to do things they would never do in the light of day. But I think there is even more to the phenomenon of People Behaving Badly on the Internet than that.

Communicating electronically and instantly has the ability to enflame the emotions in a way that letter writing, telephone calls or face-to-face meetings do not. I know this from experience. A few years ago I exchanged a series of damaging vitriolic e-mails with someone even though we really shared mutual respect and a great deal of affection. There is no time to calm down, get perspective and let cooler heads prevail.

And recently I was seduced by the power of the Internet in a different way – following through on something I knew was a bad idea from the get-go. The fact that I COULD do it was way too cool and intoxicating for me to let it go.

I dunno… maybe young people are less susceptible to the “gee whiz” factor of the Internet than those of us who remember writing letters with pen on paper and having to go to the library to look up information. Anybody have an opinion on that?