The Beauty of Love and Teamwork in Life Overcoming The Beast of Problems In Our Lives and World

When one is dreaming you may have time to say things you can't find a way to say when awake or directly to a person. I had one of those dreams last night and it felt good to get my points across. When I woke up I realized 'it wasn't real' but it was very therapeutic and inspiring.

 

That's how much of the writing I do on livfully.org turns out for me and I would imagine many others because I wonder out loud "What IF" and don't worry about 'reality, whether past, present,future or this planet or inhabitants of the next.'

 

Not many mainstream media allow for such 'creative flow, discovery, asking and sharing.' I hope more people can brave trying it out sometime with courage and readiness to face 'the good and the bad' (as a Grumbling Gryphons show Sky Woman explored about Native American views of humankind with some helpful myths.)

 

Then there was the Sharon Playhouse's powerful production of Beauty and The Beast shaking the theater with booming growls then joyful songs ending on August 4th, 2019. That happens to be both Friendship Day and former President Obama's birthday.

 

Sadly it also marked the occurrence of deadly shootings in the US, in El Paso, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri. The need for preventing violence is clearly growing on all fronts, whether with safer gun laws, or airplane standards such as Ralph Nader and others are pursuing vigilantly.

 

Back to the common Disney show, I am exploring idea that the friendship Belle and the Prince in Disguise (and at times  under emotional immaturity and distress) should have been enough to break the spell.  Although there would have been cause for domestic violence or kidnapping interventions for the Beast who declared he owned her,  that she couldn't leave, verbally assaulted her and caused  to fear for her safety with intimidation.

 

Basically their friendship, even evolving with hope and kindness, was a 'mixed bag of tricks' he was dishing out due to 'bad habits, a bad temper, and a slow learning curve with little accountability and few safeguards." To that extent that reflected 'real life' for plenty of people, whether housemates, relatives, romantic partners, parents or others. Lots of room for improvement...and good soup.

 

The Beast (what's in a name, maybe he could have had a reference to his earlier name or a nicer nickname) would have needed Batterer Intervention for a year before going to friendship or 'couple's therapy' even after becoming human. Many good intentions and skills may not result in abilities and new skills to communicate and participate safely in a relatiionship.

 

Sadly with domestic violence cases in the news and nearby, including fatalities, that is the 'biggest secret' the press and the rest of society fears revealing as a horrible reality. Medium Thomas John shares in his new musical "Dead Serious" for instance that his family was on television reporting of many years of abuse by their biological father and had to get him locked up for their own safety.

 

In Beauty and The Beast,  there should have been a reasonable standard for the spell to be broken.  They could be  caring not necessarily loving friends nor devoted romantic partners for the spell to be broken. Many ex-lovers and best friends can still  be good social contacts and supports. There's room for more people to consider the 'positive possibilities' of 'moving on as friends.'

 

That's the jist of the Transparenting program for people in custody matters, and one that likely all interested in being parents or caregivers could view early on (before becoming parents for instance) so that the 'terrain and expectations' would be more clear. Someone would be needed to arrange for care or provide it for each child through their infancy and young childhood, and supplement their school or other program care. That's a lot of years.

 

Often people go with 'even and odd years' to give parents time and even decision making about various matters. Then there are the seasons, the school year or terms and the summer and school breaks to manage. Then there are holidays, again alternating with some on the opposite years or doing 'what works' closer to the time. In general the more 'planned' the times are with the children having a copy of the schedule (even if changes can or will be made) can give everyone a sense of accountability and caring. It's just plain practical in these modern times for Every Child and Adult to let someone know their basic schedule and have a buddy system a few folks deep.

 

More people are learning to 'co-parent' and otherwise (even without ever living together in some cases) to honor the realms of how they can work together in supervised or appropriate settings even after conflict. However in the modern world all of that deserves more exploration by 'experts' and practical community resource people.  People and places do 'change over time' and people should not be stuck socially, financially or in danger to maintain the status quo. The underlying theme of 'feelings and being able to work things through from the heart' is one explored in Compassionate Communication by Thom Bond online as well as in its latest book.

 

Domestic violence expert and victim support leader  Lundy Bancroft has books such as Why Does He DO That? (Generally because society and the systems have allowed him to do so  (the abuser and that's male most of the time, abusing females or other males or transgendered people.) More recently Lundy has a supportive networking program and book for victims, The Joyous Recovery.

 

UFO and Truth Activist Steven Greer offers important other 'serious drama' patterns that more are discovering as theories or leads in the 'real history' and modern challenges of our times with his online offerings.

 

Soon everyone could understand the important 'stories behind the headlines' which have a growing number of reputable scientists, lawyers and advocates seeking to inform the public of their physical, scientific and other findings about The Truth About 9/11/01 for instance. We need to consider the possibilities of being duped as though in a theater since the stakes (and temperatures) are growing ever higher.

 

 Back to the show which many braved seeing even though there should be better traffic control getting into and out of the theater and similar 'large crowd events' as much as possible.
 

At times Belle and her father were  out in the woods alone that were fraught with wolves. That is a lesson many could take into consideration with modern challenges whether animal (rabid or dangerous animals or people.)

 

That can remind us of the scare bears are giving people though they are a danger to run into with a car or find near one's garbage, and hopefully not in one's home. The bigger challenge are criminal or unstable people however, so learning the warning signs and having more safety measures in place through community education makes sense.

 

The wilderness (likely including poison ivy, toxic plants and invasive plants) we could plan to address, but not with more toxins if possible. Bittersweet vines and phragmites stalks are claiming the stage in rural areas, roads and railways.

 

With all that our worldly stage holds danger not only with natural forces of water and heights (and falling off rocks, hitting one's head) or otherwise getting seriously hurt or killed often by accident. Even facing the forces of speed such as with  impacts of vehicles or on bikes or when out walking merit more discussion and compassion for victims and their families.

 

Getting lost is a real concern, particularly among those with dementia. Unfortunately having 'something go wrong' such as a few of the  local passings involving being near or in water that has moved our hearts and even endangered others  at times during rescues and searches in our communities.  

 

With all due respect and encouragement for ongoing community support and awareness, the parting of our teen son Kaelan Palmer Paton in June 2009,  and Steven W. in June 2019, and most recently Anderson G]. in July 2019 has seemed like some kind of movie-making about unexpected water dangers even with others present. 

 

Their first initials can spell ASK  (and for some reason I thought of the a fable of the mouse who asked for mercy from a lion...a metaphor for miracle saves maybe ...so it dawned on me that it's like the fable of the The Lion and The Mouse moral to not be too proud to ask for help, and to remember the many parts of a forest and human's options for interacting with nature and natural forces.

 

 The lion in the fable is about to eat a mouse he catches, but the mouse begs to let him live so he may be able to save his life sometime. The lion laughs at the notion and frees him, only to see the value of having his different, puny friend become the hero he needed to gnaw ropes that humans used to trap him or in other versions have him remove a splinter from his lion's paw. 

 

The moving magic in Beauty and The Beast play also involved Belle being willing to take her father's place as a prisoner to free him. That is the theme of many heroes and figures in the world, such as Jesus giving his life as a 'ransom sacrifice' to help humans evolve with love. Kaelan Paton's final actions were about helping others above and beyond his own safety.

 

Rope rescuer Skip Kosciusko spoke about the Sermon on the Mount at Kaelan's Memorial Service which is in short segments on youtube.com. He offered that Kaelan was living those values in many ways in his 16 and almost a half years since born, and that we could benefit from emulating those caring values.  

 

While  heroic, the odds of the game  of saving someone, especially when not trained to assess concerns or have a team of support and proper equipment, need to be addressed more regularly to prevent more people 'complicating rescues' and possibly causing needless injuries or fatalities.

 

I would welcome others joining in clarifying what people would benefit early in their early school years and as part of onging public education and practice skills and drills on a voluntary basis and much of it online and made accessible. No one knows who they may be crossing paths with who may be choking for instance where skills can be used readily to help someone if it is safe to do so. I had that opportunity over 30 years ago at the Sharon Playhouse in CT helping someone in the parking lot, using skills I had learned a decade prior.

 

That was because I was dancing in a show "Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum". That made an impression on me that whichever area we pursue it's worth having one's Thinking KAPP on  (and I let that stand for both Kaelan Alexander Palmer Paton's initials and Kids, Adults, Parents Partnership since parents are a key part of a child's life and path from the get-go whether biological, adopted, custodial or factoring in through teaching, coaching, faith or civic groups. 

 

The overall effort is called Acorns to Oaks Team Outreach (A-2020 for short and for our times) as well as Acorns to Oaks Friends United Network. Those encourage societies and people, respectively to promote wisdom, kindness, health, talent, friendship, safety and skills in all walks of life in local areas, states, regions and countries. As we grow together in these core values we will see the fruits of our efforts nourish ourselves and others in balanced ways.

 

Thanks to all weighing on one everybuddy's well-being, protecting basic human rights and envisioning peaceful futures for all youth and those who have deeper roots and hopefully supports as well. I explore much of this on livfully.org and encourage others to do so and join in these kinds of efforts in their community and other places that speak to them in our national and global villages.

 

Not going to dangerous locations to jump or even swim (since there can be hidden undertows especially at beaches)  as well as better home pool monitoring is a shared community standard that also needs serious promoting worldwide.

 

The healing messages in the theatre, our dreams and real life may come in many forms. The consideration that every person is a 'world unto themset connects in meaningful ways to others in their immediate circles and wider ones is part of the adventure of discovery and teamwork..

 

 The effort we give to fine-tuning plans and support networks the better people can use their gifts to benefit the greater good. In turn, the desire to help people not hurt them (as WKZE encourages people to do regularly, thank you very much) can be a real 'game-changer.' 

 

That includes helping and not hurting oneself as well, whether with healthy relationships, inputs (food,  avoiding drugs and alcohol (especially in excess or when driving,) exercise plans and support for many other basics in life like reading, writing and creating, ) so one can be more clear and successful about one's outputs (living with reasonable stress, being responsible for self-care and sharing skills and plans for safe travel and outings.)