Rocky Balboa

April 16, 2008 | Filed Under Random Thoughts, Relationships 

It’s funny how those “ah-ha” moments happen when you least expect them - like watching the latest Rocky movie…  The character of Rocky is fascinating to me - he’s a man who once had fame and fortune and was on top of the world.  But as he’s aged, life has taken its toll.  He still has people saying hi to him on the streets and asking for his autograph but the money’s all gone. He grieves the death of his lovely wife, Adrian. On the surface, he seems painfully unaware of his own irrelevance - the world has moved on but he appears to stuck in the past “living backwards.”

But what appears on the surface turns out not to matter in the least; Rocky has something figured out about life few of us get to taste. He is truly free from the opinion of others - not in the way that devalues others - but in the way that can keep us from ever knowing ourselves, forming our own opinions and convictions, and taking a stand in the world.  Over the years, Rocky has become a remarkable man; he’s simple and far from perfect, unpretentious, humble, gracious, yet strong and confident while also being vulnerable and real and wise.  This kind of strength is only possible for a man who gives up trying to be what he thinks everybody else wants him to be, a man who stops pretending to be something he is not, a man who is so comfortable in his own skin his very presence invites us to take another step in becoming comfortable in ours.

In this scene, he speaks to his son in the only way a father who loves can. Rocky calls his son out of his own insecurities without blaming or criticizing him, and calls him to something bigger by restoring his identity. Here is a father leading his son to life.

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