This post is technically for my Facebook friends. I'm purposely trying to offend them because as we all know it's the land of accepted thought over there. And we want a lot of people to come over to the dark side and earn with us. A free exchange of ideas so to say, rather than a protected line of thought. That just isn't my game.
Anyway,
I loved the underdog movies as a kid. Oh boy do I always love a good underdog. I mean technically in life, I'm quite the underdog myself. Almost everyone underestimated (bar a few!) that I'd get anywhere near to where I am now. I waded through the thick lava and rose out of the ashes, reborn. Kind of like when you see those movies when the dejected, bullied kid meets some Karate teacher and everything works out well for him in the end.
Like the Karate Kid.
Ah, boy, was the Karate Kid ever an underdog story. Kid moves half a country with his single mum away from his friends, family, and everyone else so that she can make a career move. Becomes the underdog of his own story as he's bullied, beat up, and almost nearly killed. Yet, along comes Mr Myagi and saves the day. Pretty much adopts Daniel as his own Son and teaches him to defend himself through Karate.
I always imagined having a man like Mr Myagi come in and swoop me away and teach me how to defend myself. I was always having to defend myself as a kid. It sucked. I never really had any father figure around to stop the local kids from being dicks to me. But that's another story.
Another story of underdogs would be an Innocent Man by Tom Selleck. It's an old one, and I usually get ribbed on by my friends for loving this type of movie but the underdog parts are all there. Innocent man goes to jail, isn't expected to survive in Jail, but overcomes all odds and becomes the hero if his own story.
Now you be cool, and everything be everything.
Another film that had a profound effect on me growing up. It didn't matter that he was sent to prison, was an innocent man, lost his job, and nearly his wife -- he survived. And I guess that's why I've always been a survivor. No matter what happened I was always waiting on something better to come along. I knew it was there, I just didn't know how to reach out and get it.
Another one of my absolute favourites is The Shawshank Redemption. I'm honestly not sure if this is even an underdog story. I mean twenty years of his life was carved out over a lie, even if he did make the best out of it. A true survivor was Andy Dufrense. Didn't matter what was thrown at him, he would just spring back and make the best of it. I'll admit, when I first watched this film I didn't have high hopes for it. It was the first period drama in my life that I ever watched, and this sparked off a love affair with myself and history.
Oh that's funny. You're gonna look funnier sucking my dick with no teeth
Part of why Stoicism is so important. It may not be great now, but eventually you're going to appreciate the bad times. Stick it out for a while
So now we get to the wider part of the story. These movies are awesome. Movies, music, and media like this is why I'm still here today. If it wasn't for knowing that an underdog was a thing I probably would have ended my life a long time ago. Gone. Poof.
But the opportunity is there and always has been. It's why I keep telling my friends in non-crypto to get into crypto. It's a wide open arena right now and very few people are building. Wait until that ladder fuckin closes I tell you.
Anyway. I grew up thinking that someone like Mr myagi, or Tom Sellek, or hell, even Andy Dufrense would come along and save me. It's a complete shocker to turn around to everyone now and say, actually, no, it was me that saved me. Sure, I had help along the way but I'm the hero of my own story. I rose out from the ashes and was reborn. I was the one that had to get up every day and live with me. No-one else, and believe me, sometimes it's hard existing in my mind -- for sure!
You know what the sucky thing about life right now? Is that we teach our kids about fairness and equality -- and not just the equality of opportunity, but the equality of equity -- and then after school and university they get into the workplace and realise that the world will take a massive dump on them if they don't keep up. Fuck underdog. It's fair and equal for everyone. Films like the ones mentioned reinforce that.
But essentially they are just films at the end of the day.
And yet when traversing this world they then suddenly realise very quickly that it's not fair and equal, and those that don't keep up are left behind very quickly. It happened to me twenty five years ago, I can only imagine the massive shock it is to the system for children now. I grew up thinking the poor guy wins in the end, life balances itself out eventually, and that bad actors usually get their comeuppance.
It's a shock to the system when you realise how scrupulous and unfair this world can be. In a normal world Daniel Laruso would more than likely be permanently disabled, Tom Sellek and Andy Dufrense would be dead. In the real world life is unfair, life is messy, people are weird, and most people have about a 2% chance of making a better life for themselves.
Imagine that? 2%. That was the success rate of rehabilitation programs across the UK. 2%?? And that's not a failure on their behalf, that's because society is geared in a fashion to keep the normal person subservient. No ruler ever gave its people the education to rebel. Just think about that for a moment. If you think you're going to college and university to learn to overthrow a system of tyranny then I have bad news for you.
I don't know about you but I'm teaching my boy to compete. I'm teaching him to be the best he can, and to also strive for the highest he can. Life doesn't come easy, and your dreams are always outside your comfort zone. That doesn't mean to say I'm not going to teach him the struggles of other cultures, race relations, and the gender stuff -- because I absolutely think that having an open mind and being able to treat everyone with respect is important.
But you can kiss my ass if you think I'm teaching him to step aside for other people. I was taught that and it took me to the bottom of the dog pile. I had to claw my own way out of it. And it was tough. The ivory tower I sit in, as some people have called it in the past, was fully and truly earned.
Life isn't fair, life isn't equal.
It never will be.