Deep Scene Breakdown, “It’s About How Hard You Can Get Hit and Keep Moving Forward”

Not the best Rocky movie; but a very deep scene from Rocky Balboa (6th installment of the Rocky movie franchise).

Keeping with theme of Stoic wisdom of Marcus Aurelius on The Way and disturbance coming from within, we’re reminded character is defined by how we respond to adversity. In this scene, Rocky’s son is embarrassed by his father’s decision to come out of retirement – and how all the exposure will embarrass him. In essence, the center of his concern is what people will think and he implores his father not to go through with the fight.

Rocky hits his son back with some truth bombs (bold my emphasis):

HD – Rocky Balboa (2006) – inspirational speech – YouTube

“When things got hard, you started for looking to something blame, like a big shadow… The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows; it’s a very mean and nasty place… I don’t care how tough you are; it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But, it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done… You gotta be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t are where you want to be because of him, her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain’t you; you’re better than that!”

Deep.

It’s now about our highs (how hard you hit), nor is it about our lows in the adversity we face (getting hit). It’s about how we respond (how much we can take) to adversity (and keep moving forward).

Image Credit:

Author: Schreibwerkzeug, Rocky Balboa (Film) Logo