Creative People Who Changed The World

Over the course of history we have had many creative people. So many in truth that I could be writing until the end of time, but today I will focus on one. We have had people like Socrates who laid the foundations for western civilization to Mark Twain who is today part of the posthumous literary elite. As I said earlier today I will focus on one man and that is Martin Luther King.

King was born on the 15^th of January 1929 in Atlanta. Both his father and grandfather were ministers in an African-American Baptist church. He attended Morehouse college in Atlanta, Crozer Theological Seminary in Penssylvania and Boston University. It was at these colleges that he first experienced segregation and naturally it upset him. He married his wife Coretta Scott King at 24 and then moved to Montgomery, Alabama where he became the local Baptist minister. He was a respected man, a known public speaker and active in the local community.

King’s journey to becoming the man we know today began in Montgomery where a local seamstress named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus and was subsequently arrested for her “crime”. This led to the bus boycotts which lasted nearly a year and was sustained for that time by a volunteer car service and fundraising, all organised by King. It was eventually taken to the supreme-court where segregation on buses was made unconstitutional.

After his success with the boycott, King and other ministers founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which proved to be a rendezvous for the civil rights movement. There were later arguments about what approach to take, with groups like the Black Panthers getting frustrated and violent, but King always maintained that peaceful means were the best way to go.

Kings finest hour undoubtedly came in 1963 when he marched on Washington D.C along with 250,000 followers and made his legendary “I have a dream” speech. My favourite part is “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character”. This summed up the whole civil rights movement for me. People should not every be judged by colour but by the contribution to society. It’s funny to think that groups like the KKK considered themselves superior to King, considering they were a violent mob, hated all things non-white Protestant, loved to spend their free time burning crosses and attacking innocent black people in the south. For me King was the driving force of the civil rights movement, his leadership and his speeches inspired many and won the hearts of many. They represented peace and there was never any malice in them.

In fairness, King did not do it by himself , there were many other people who were in the struggle. I respect the idealisms of people like Malcolm X because at the end of the day, they were all trying to achieve the same thing for black people, equality and fairness. While he was a little too extreme and bitter about himself, I actually do think he had his heart in the right place. King, in my opinion, embodied the human spirit. He was a peaceful man but was never afraid to stand in the face of injustice, he managed to pacify some exceptionally segregated cities like Birmingham and make them fair cities for all to live in and all during it he managed to make time for his wife and children.

While it was unfortunate and untimely that he was assassinated in 1968, he had already laid the foundations for what was to come down the road. Throughout the 1970’s, 80’s, 90’s, and into the 21^st century black people have become equal to whites in every way, this being symbolised in the fact there is a black president of the United States of America. He would probably agree that it was all worth the struggle in the end.

The whole story of King is like anybody’s a game of what ifs? What if King wasn’t the minister in Montgomery? Would the civil rights movement have taken off like it would? What if he never made those inspiring speeches throughout America? Would people have had the will to keep going with the struggle like they did? Who’s to say, it’s like a lot of things in history, there is no right or wrong answer. It’s a bit like saying what if Germany won WWII. We can only imagine what could have happened. Fortunately this time a good version was created and while naturally life has its trials, at least King made life easier for people.

To sum it all up he was a creative man who changed history and the world as we know it. His legacy lives on today and his ideas have helped others overcome injustice.

Such is the measure of a man.

Creativity And Sport: a mix?

Creativity comes in many forms. You find it all around you in the world if you look for it. Creativity can be the street performer you may want to give money to, but then realise you are not exactly Donald Trump yourself. It can be the street artist making a masterpiece on the sidewalk or even a guy who makes a good sandwich. With Creativity comes inspiration. Inspiration for people can come from anything and that is literally anything. For a lot it comes from nature, for others it comes people. For me it comes from Sport.

Sport is a magical thing, aside from the whole fitness side of it, there are easily some of the most creative people that play sport. For example look at soccer, there have been some absolute masterminds like Johann Cruyff, Diego Maradona and in the modern day it’s Lionel Messi. Cruyff was a playmaker, ammunitions provider and marksman rolled into one, with the ability to time a pass that has not been equalled to this day. Some might argue Wesley Sneijder but he’s not as good as him. I am not taking away from his ability, but there is no comparison. On the other hand, there has been many comparisons between Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona. They are both creative geniuses in their own right, both able to weave through defences like they weren’t there at all. The only difference between the two is that Messi is maybe a slightly more prolific goal scorer and has so far has had a cleaner life than Maradona.

Golf is another game that requires so much creativity to be a top player. It is a game with so many skills to master that only a select few can actually master it. It’s popular with a lot of people around the world but as more of a social outlet which there is nothing wrong at all with, I’m one of those people myself. But if you break it down look at the amount of vital components that are needed to be good. You need a good technique, a good grip, stance and strong mental capabilities. Good technique is needed for your swing, short game and your putting and short game. Grip is essential or you can’t hit the ball right at all. Some very intelligent people have played the game. We have the modern examples of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, but there are some genuine legends of the game in the history of golf, like Harry Vardon. Vardon won seven majors, six British Opens and one US Open, between 1896 and 1914.Vardon was so good, he won 70 exhibition matches in 1900.  His grip, the Vardon grip, is the main one used by golfers today.  It is also called the overlapping grip.  Not everyone uses it, but most do. It cannot be argued that you have to be creative to be able to develop your own grip and is still popular today over 100 years later.

As I mentioned earlier, mental conditioning is not only important for a golfer, but vital for anybody to succeed in all walks of life. Mental conditioning allows you to pick yourself up when you keep getting knocked down, to push yourself that inch farther when your body can barely take anymore or to ask that girl out that you’ve always wanted to, but never had the courage to do so. It is no different for a sportsman, whether he plays in front of hundreds of thousands, or dozens on a sleepy Sunday afternoon in your local sports field. To get the best out of yourself you need to be right upstairs. If not, no matter how much skill and talent you have, you won’t perform to your very best on the day. People are very creative in how they get themselves mentally prepared. Some go into a corner and focus, others need to be shouted at to get fired up, more listen to different kinds of music to prepare, from Opera to Heavy Metal. Some just need to show up and put on their gear and that’s it. We’re all different. I need to be shouted at and given the big inspirational speech to motivate myself. A good example is on Youtube and look up the “I am a champion” video. That’s what I’m talking about.

With all these creative and mental wonders that good sportsmen give us. There are many inspirational stories behind it all. A recent story is that of Kieran Behan. On January 10^th last, he qualified for this year’s Olympic games with an astounding performance. While this is undoubtedly a proud achievement, it was not without many struggles.  The 22-year-old has faced major setbacks on his road to the top, and was twice told he may never walk again let alone compete at an elite level of gymnastics. At age 10, Behan discovered a benign tumor in his leg. Complications during surgery to remove the tumor left him wheelchair bound. He made a full recovery and returned to gymnastics. Then, at the age of 12 an accident during training left him again unable to walk after he damaged his inner ear. However, Behan persevered and eventually returned to the sport he loved. This is one of those “to hell and back” stories we love. This is one of the many things that makes sport great but also we can easily forget, the hard work. The best way for me it has been put was when Muhammad Ali said “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses - behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights”.

That is what sport is all about, that is why we love creative people in sport, they have talent and are constantly innovative in improving their game. When you look at it, all the most popular sportspeople are also the most creative. People flock to see these people from around their country, maybe even the world. One of these men was Christy Ring. Many of you might not know who Christy Ring was, but where I come from he is a legendary figure. Christy Ring played the ancient Irish sport of hurling. For those of you who do not know what hurling is, it is one of the national pastimes of Ireland. To put into perspective for you, it is so old that when the Egyptians were building the pyramids, we were playing hurling. While you are on Youtube look up hurling and you’ll see. Christy was one of the best that ever played the game. He won 8 All Ireland hurling medal’s, 9 Munster hurling medal’s, 18 Inter-Provincial titles and 3 National Hurling League medals. He made it onto the team’s of  the century and the millennium. He was a star. His skills and tenacity wowed crowds and people travelled from all over Ireland just to see him play. As he said himself: “I always liked to do the impossible”.

This is why sport inspires me and so many others around the world. It has drama on and off the rings, fields and tracks. Everybody has a story and many of them are interesting. We love, we laugh, we fight, we celebrate and we cry over sport. It brings people of all races, colours, religions and social circumstances together in unity over one thing, our love of sport. Sport has instilled in me a discipline for life. I have friends until I die from sport.

So yes, sport and creativity do mix, that is why it inspires me.

So, what inspires you???