I used to love watching boxing matches, especially when they were on the silver screen and you know what the outcome is going to be: Dishum, dishum, dishum, dishum; one shot after another. You shudder as the hero finally gets knocked down.
Then you wait with baited breath, knowing something dramatic is going to happen, after all that’s why the movie was a success, wasn’t it? And then it happens; the hero, now your hero, opens one eye, than the other, eyelids as bloodied as the make-up man could have made them, without using the whole tomato ketchup bottle, then in front of a disbelieving crowd and a sneering, leering opponent the victim holds onto the ropes, clambers onto his feet, but there is a difference, the blood is still there, the bruises even more visible, the eyelids still half closed, the knees still buckling, but like I said there’s a difference:
The body language says it all; there is a steely glint in his eye, a forcefulness in his fists, the legs though buckling are muscle taut, and you know, oh yes, you know that your hero is not going to let you down. You want to get up from your comfortable seat, because it’s going to happen, you’re going to get your money’s worth of revenge and you watch your severely battered hero swinging with focus and determination, his fists directly into the face and body of his opponent.
The fight has changed, your hero got up and hit back. It’s all in reel life, isn’t it? Never really happens in real life? But it does, day after day: Men, women, young and old, after falling flat on their faces, get up, wipe the dirt away, flick their hands over their muddied, bruised bodies, fight back, and win. Even as they fell, they know the fight wasn’t over yet.
A few years ago, when I ran my own business, it was a disappointing day when we lost an order we had tried quite desperately for, and at my office next morning, my managers and supervisors and salesmen sat quite dejected, till I walked in sat on my chair and asked them what our formula was when we lost an order.
They all grinned, they knew that for every lost order we worked that extra hard to get three times more. Most often we did! I miss those battling days, though nowadays the fight is on other issues. Whatever your fall is today; lost job, crippling disease, a lost love, whatever; the fight ain’t over till you get up. It doesn’t happen in reel life only, it’s true in reality too, just get up onto your feet, fight back, start winning! Just dare to get up..!
