I think there is a lot to said about what many people would consider "rock bottom" and how others perceive things. When Snickers hit what many people considered to be his "rock bottom" in February 2004, little did they know it'd in fact be the start of something really, really great. The very people who were quick to label him as "a loss cause" and a "failure to society" are now choking on their words. They now pay him to help them and I find it ironic that they now aspire to be like him, a talented boxer.
February 2004 was well beyond "our" time but I've been blessed enough to "benefit" from what happened. I benefited via getting a reformed bad boy for a husband who together we made a dream and then together we made this dream a reality.
Tonight someone from Snickers' past life walked into our club. He's a middle aged man who wants to take up boxing again so he searched out our club specifically. When he walked in I instantly noticed his overly humble, shy manner when he approached Snickers. They talked and within a couple of minutes the two were joking around, shaking hands and Snickers was calling me over so he could introduce him to me.
As it turns out, Snickers and he both got their start in boxing at the Cheonan jail's boxing club. It's a club no longer in operation but one which has started the successful careers of various Korea's professional boxers, three of which are long standing Korean champions and friends of mine. Two of them went to jail for battery and one did time for accidental murder. I have tight business connections to the most extreme of the three because he is a good friend and an awesome business mentor. He has three boxing clubs in Korea's south and has helped us with the legal paper work for our own club.
I must admit, I've remained overly curious about Snickers' bad boy past and constantly ask him about doing hard time. Hard time makes hard people and Snickers is definitely one hard-thinking, passionately driven person. Hard time did him good, real good. And it's funny that what many people think may bring us shame actually gives me pride because while many would have thrown themselves into a puddle of self pity, he didn't. No one was there to pick him up -- there were months when no one even came to visit him. He knew he had gotten himself into this situation and he knew only he could get himself out of it. It's called a hard lesson in learning how to drown out every one's negativity, leaning on your own will power, and practicing accountability for your own life.
I'm not sure if this older man will join our boxing club or what his full story is but it was nice to spend the last hour of work talking with him. He laughed at my Korean slang and they reminisced about the jail's boxing club. I sat at the juice bar watching them talk, admiring them actually. Snickers isn't the same guy he was in February 2004, he's grown from it and I'm constantly motivated by that. Life is full of ups and downs, no one is immune, but it's interesting how a change in perspective changes everything. There is always good in bad.
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