“The
only thing that will stop you from fulfilling your dreams is you.” Billy Mills
was an American Indian who overcome many obstacles thrown in his way. He was a
very talented track and field runner. He became a “running machine”. This
caused him a lot of inner battles within himself. In a point, he lost his way
and endured a very difficult and rough time. He eventually found his way and
achieved his goal by becoming a gold Olympic medalist for the 10,000-meter-long
distance race.
Since the
beginning of the movie, he faced racial discrimination. The coach was not sure
if he was making the right decision to recruit him because of the Indian
stereotypes. He said he had a bad experience with a runner who out of nowhere
dropped out of college, and therefore let down the team in an important time. Yes,
Billy did almost the same as the Indian his coach mentioned. He quit the team
when they were about to go out and compete. There was a big difference though,
he knew what he wanted but was overwhelmed and stressed with all the pressure
the coach and other staff members put on his shoulders. He had to connect with
his origins and find the reason that made him love running and where did he
truly wanted to be. After his visit to the reservation and witnessing the death
of his friend, he joined the Marine Corps and he began the journey to the
Olympics.
Billy was gifted an amazing talent.
His friend, Frank, killed himself because he was frustrated with himself. He
was an artist who always dreamed of getting out of the reservation. Instead, he
never did because he thought he was convinced he will fail just as his father
told him he would do. He encouraged Billy to not give up on his dream, yet he
gave up on his. He didn’t know how to deal with his problems. Eventually frustration
led to alcoholism, alcoholism lead to sadness, sadness led to depression, and
depression led to suicide. This was a wake-up call for Billy. He had two
choices: follow and fulfill his dream or become as miserable as Frank thinking
about what would’ve happened. He certainly followed his heart and accomplish
what he wanted.
We should not judge a book by its
cover. This is one of the phrases that we often hear but choose to ignore.
There is something that pops automatically in our head whenever we see the
cover of that book. It is up to us whether we are going to give a chance to the
book or choose to miss out on the amazing story that the author wrote on those
pages.
*If you want to check out the movie, and I encourage you to watch it, here's the link: *
It's hard to be constantly judged by everyone and succeed. I agree with you, nobody should judge others, especially if they have not being in their place. And even then, nobody should judge others because nobody in this world is perfect. Also, I loved the metaphor you used to compare a book to a person.
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ReplyDeleteIt's true that we often judge a book by its cover. We do it al the time with people. We often have prejudices about people's look. Sometimes, we think that we are not able to get along with someone because he or she acts or dresses in a certain way. However, this is totally incorrect. One may never know the true essence of a person unless you meet them and spend time with them.
ReplyDeleteIt's so true! We really shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Unfortunately, this is something that happens way too often in society. Billy's story is certainly an inspiring one.
ReplyDeleteI've always believed that, no matter how much we try, we will always judge someone we meet. It's automatic and kind of unavoidable to create an image of who this person might be before you get to know them.
ReplyDeleteBut I've also always believed that you have a choice with that image you have created. You can either believe it and not give the person a chance. Or you can allow them to prove you right or wrong, allow the person to be themselves and learn from them rather then be blinded by one's own prejudices.
Billy is the kind of person that proved those prejudices wrong. People believed he was no good simply because of his race. But he proved them wrong by getting to the Olympics and getting the gold medal he deserved.
Billy Mills truly is a person to look up to.