XII. WHAT RIGHT HAVE I TO GIVE ADVICE ?

          " Screw you, Creepo ! "

          I remember this line very well as Little Marie shouted to Rocky after he escorted her home and gave her a lecture about getting herself into trouble. Each time I am tempted to share a piece of my mind to someone, I hold back 'cause with me on the dump what right have I to dish out some advice ? A failure for most people I knew believed that I wasted a lot of opportunities.  Can't blame them but I surely wished they knew the real story. 

          But that's water under the bridge right now, can't spend the rest of my life trying to explain myself to them.  That's the reality of life, its all about how other people sees you and how you see yourself.  If you can't hold on to your old life, you might as well let go and find another scenario where you can build a new you. You can never do that unless you are willing to cut ties with people who are looking down on you, and move on. That's the easy part. The harder part is getting up and moving forward.

        Rocky inspired me a lot.  I picked a lot of lessons from his life and from his creator, Sylvester Stallone. A lot of people doesn't know that he wrote almost all the screenplays of his movies aside from the Rocky series. His life was not perfect but he earned the right to teach the world his philosophical views from the movies he made. That Little Marie turned up as his love interest in the last Rocky movie entitled Creed. 

        We don't have to be old to be wise.  The world today is moving so fast that knowledge lies at the end of one's fingertips.  In our times we have to go to the library and research for it - now they just "google" it.  It was simpler then but I don't agree that things were better then.  The older generation just want to call it the good old days because they were young then. Things are better now - we the older generation just can't keep up with the times so we try to convince ourselves we've had more fun. 

         So getting back to the question - what right have I to give out advice ?  Freddie Roach was a failure as a boxer. He tried his best to become a champion but he just don't have what it takes. In his mind he knew what to do but he just couldn't dish it out no matter how hard he tried. He never lacked the desire, the persistence, that later he admitted that he quit the fight game 5 fights too late. The punishment he took in those 5 fights may have caused his present ailment but it turned out to a blessing in disguise. He emerged from the experience a better man, spiritually and turned his focus into teaching boxers the things he learned from boxing. He was destined to cross path  with Manny Pacquiao who has everything he dreamed of having. All he did was to chisel off the rough edges and helped made the Pacman what he is today. Freddie's failure in the boxing arena turned out to be the key to his mastery of the game. 

         I am now nearing the end of my rope, learned a lot from experience and picked up a lot of lessons from the books that I have read the last 30 years or so. I still have about 700 books on my reading file and hundred of movies for viewing. Guess its about time I share some of the things I have learned...