Riding in the back of a limousine, Gekko calls Fox's attention to two men standing on the street. One is a bum wearing rags for garb on his stooped body, and apparently lives out his days by using his hands for begging. The second is an effigy of capitalist success, expensive suit adorning his body, standing tall and proud, living his days and using his hands for handshakes. It is a dichotomy of one man living life on his knees and the other living life on his feet.
Gekko points to the two lives of utter contrast and says: "Look at that. You're going to tell me that the difference between those two men is luck???" Neither Fox nor Gekko offer a response to the inquisitive, for it is actually a declaration: luck has nothing to do with it.
Luck is for losers, the cliche goes. For losers, because the only thing standing between a loser's soul and monstrous shame is that four letter word - “luck,” a cynic’s tool to damn life as a profane and unfair game of chance: heads, a good life - tails, a bad life. For losers, so that they may scream it at the winners in a desperate attempt to drown out their conscience, which whispers truth in those painful moments of quiet honesty, reminding them of the fact that winners earned their lives - and that losers deserve theirs.
To the champion rewarded not with a trophy but with the sneer that “winning is not everything,” to the talented young man whose elders proclaim his aptitude as a "gift from God," to the precocious child star downgraded and put down as "no better than anyone else," to the hero, to the achiever, to the genius, to the victor, the virtuoso, to my brothers who are part Tyler Durden, part Leonidas, part Howard Roark, part Jack Bower, part John Galt, part James Bond - and 100% man - to any great man, woman, boy or girl who had his virtue spit on by mediocre mystics, I ask: If ours are “gifts from God,” then why did we have to practice? A “gift” is something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient, without its being earned. Why did we have to work? Why did we have to struggle? What sort of "gift" comes wrapped in hurdles to leap over, hardships to overcome, setbacks to deal with, dues to pay, and learning curves to navigate? What sort of "gift" requires the spilling of blood, sweat and tears to achieve it?
Every rhyme of a poet’s poem, every note of a composer’s symphony, every penny of a capitalist’s wealth - every second of a good man’s life requires that he use his two weapons for survival, his shield and spear - thought and action. Like the wolf that threatened young Leonidas in the opening scene of 300, reality has teeth; if you ignore it, it will eat you alive. He who lays down his only tool for life - his mind, his shield - in favor of a rabbit’s foot, belief in luck, destiny, Karma or other such absurdity commits a slow suicide; like the man who only takes a sip of poison here and there, he does not fully die, nor does he fully live.
There is so much more to living than just staying alive; there is more than just blood to be pumped and air to be breathed. There is money to be made, happiness to be lived. There are exotic automobiles to be driven, girls to be kissed, vacations to be traveled, triumphs to be had, things coming to us to be gotten - or to forever go unclaimed. "The world," in the words of Tony Montana, "and everything in it." There is so much more to living than just staying alive; there is life to be lived.
By noose, gun or suicide pill, one may take his life at any moment - or natural causes will take care of the matter. Whenever the moment comes, when we die, we will be dead completely. You will have plenty of time for taking it easy when death calls. Take the next decades to come for living - completely. Live, or die - totally. At least do yourself the justice of making up your mind.
It is a gargantuan task, this goal of demanding every ounce of the possible from every second of your life, to stand and fight against the voices of an entire planet telling you to kneel and give up. So, what sort of creature are you? When the weight of the world presses down, mere men crumble. Atlases shrug.
Hear their command: Lay down your weapons for survival - stop thinking, stop acting. Remember the immortal response of King Leonidas to the Persian decree: “Spartans, lay down your weapons.” Come and get them. Remember his battle cry: Give them nothing. Give them nothing - not an ounce of your pride, not a bit your ego, not an iota of your self, not an inch of your property, not a penny of your wealth, not a second of your life. This is where mysticism, self-sacrifice and the ideology of suicide die: On these shields, boys!
Unlike the Spartan King, I do not hold that glory is to be had in death; it is to be had in life. Let us usher in a new age - an age of reason, an age of pride, an age of freedom, an age of love for life and the joy of living it. An age where we do not view the “meaning of life” as an unknowable enigma, answered only with the labyrinthine riddles of some Eastern monk on the top of a mountain, in the creed of self-sacrifice and suicide, or in the meaningless jabberwocky of an ancient sophist - an age where we know that the meaning of life is: life. Life, and living it to the fullest and happiest - and knowing that in living such a life, luck has nothing to do with it. Let us embrace an age where we reject the mental straitjackets of the dark ages, and the philosophical shackles that bind man’s life to slavery, self-sacrifice and suicide. Let us spread our wings and fly.
Let us chase glory. Let us pursue greatness limited only by the sky. To paraphrase one man's words to Howard Roark: I look forward to our futures and seeing how high we will soar. I am an astronomy enthusiast, you see.
Great post!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to add one thing:
"A “gift” is something bestowed or acquired without any particular effort by the recipient, without its being earned." whilst this is true, a certain amount of luck comes into play when we talk about ones endowments - their starting point in life. However, this is overshadowed by work ethic and the strive to overcome obstacles. Even if you take away the business of a rich man and put him in some small under-developed country, I believe he will still rise up once again.