A Shot at the Title

Adrian: Can I ask you a question?

Rocky: Absolutely.

Adrian: Why do you fight?

Rocky: Because I can’t sing or dance.

I watched the original Rocky movie yesterday. I hadn’t remembered it being so striking (no pun intended). The franchise produced 5 or 6 or 100 Rocky movies, I don’t remember. I got bored with them after a while because it was the same story placed in different circumstances, over and over and over. So for me, like most people, the Rocky movies became a caricature of the original and the greatness of the first film was lost in the sea of mediocre sequels.

The first movie was really great though. Sylvester Stallone actually wrote the movie himself and then convinced MGM to let him star in it. It was a brave move and one that paid off for them, garnering Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director in a year that also produced “All the president’s men” and “Taxi driver”. Not too shabby, huh?

The greatness of the film is in its story. The underdog. The nicest, sincerest guy you ever want to meet who’s had nothing but hard luck his whole life suddenly gets a shot at the heavyweight championship title. And although he ultimately loses the fight by decision, he showed the world that a nobody could be a somebody if he really tried hard. The “American dream”.

That was 30 years ago, and the message seems to have changed a bit these days. Now the American dream is getting what you want right now by grabbing easy cash loans and credit cards. It’s carrying a mortgage and 2 car payments that eat up most of your paycheck so there isn’t anything left to save. It’s working 50+ hours a week and not having a relationship with your spouse or children.

You have to ask yourself, is it worth it? The fact is, getting a “shot at the title” is defined by what you consider important. Is it fame and fortune? Or family and friends? What I have found is that being focused on making a career didn’t make life better for my family like it was supposed to. It only separated me from them and from the one thing that is most important: serving God.

My life feels much better now that I’ve identified what the source of true happiness is. I still work hard, but my focus is on my relationship with Christ, and my family. Work is just a means to get money to do God’s work. If I kept it I’d just blow it on stupid stuff anyway, like the complete Rocky library, and I already know how they all end… Rocky wins, and since I found Christ, so have I.

“God, don’t ever let me forget that all things come from you, and all that I have belongs to you. Amen.”