By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I confess.
I love the “Rocky,” franchise of movies.
It is something that you are not something you are supposed to admit but I do. I saw all but the original on opening day and most I saw in Times Square with an interactive audience of fans yelling at the screen.
“Rocky Balboa” is the story of the aging fighter, a widower after the loss of his beloved, Adrianne, who lives with “a beast” inside of him that he needs to get rid of. He has lost so much of what made him a man and is haunted by his past.
There is a wonderful scene with a memorable soliloquy from father to son . . . but that is not what this article is about.
There is, however, a terrific moment where Rocky is about to go into training and his trainer, Duke, speaks to him with his brother-in-law, Paulie, listening.
Duke: You know all there is to know about fighting, so there’s no sense us going down that same old road again. To beat this guy, you need speed – you don’t have it. And your knees can’t take the pounding, so hard running is out. And you got arthritis in your neck, and you’ve got calcium deposits on most of your joints, so sparring is out.
Paulie: I had that problem.
Duke: So, what we’ll be calling on is good ol’ fashion blunt force trauma. Horsepower. Heavy-duty, cast-iron, piledriving punches that will have to hurt so much they’ll rattle his ancestors. Every time you hit him with a shot, it’s gotta feel like he tried kissing the express train. Yeah! Let’s start building some hurtin’ bombs!
Many of us have developed a comfortable life. We’ve gained weight, had some success, and are watching the days go by, reflecting on the past and what was, just like Rocky did in the early part of this movie.
Yet, when challenged by the current champion to an exhibition, Rocky accepts (it wouldn’t be a movie unless he did, right), despite the selfish concerns of his son.
Why?
Because he knows deep inside that there is still something left to prove to himself, even at his advanced years.
As Duke points out so well and as many of us regularly remind ourselves, physically, we will face challenges when we face that inner beast of desire and leave everything out there one more time.
We will stand toe to toe with time, the opponent we cannot defeat and face it down one last time.
In this movie, like in all the others, he trains for his moment and we see how poor his conditioning is at the beginning of training camp and as he walks into the ring to face his challenge.
And life knocks him down and he still gets up to fight because his will cannot be defeated.
Many of you walk into the ring without training when you job hunt. You are in poor condition and mentally flabby and think you will knock out your opponent. That rarely happens, does it? You are the ones taking the punches, not your opponent.
Once you realize you need to train, suddenly your punches start landing and you knock out your opponent.
You know what the challenge is.
It’s time to train for that fight. Do not walk into the ring without preparation.
It’s time to train to administer some “good ol’ fashion blunt force trauma.”
Do you hear the music?
© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC 2016
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