Who is your favorite superhero or protagonist or “good guy” from any movie, TV show, or book? Mine would have to be Rocky Balboa from Rocky. He lived in the slums of philly, cleaning blood and sweat from boxing rings and was involved with some bad people. He came from nothing and was nothing, well so everybody thought. However his one and only passion was boxing. Then one day out of nowhere he gets a shot to fight the world heavyweight champion of the world, Apollo Creed. Even though he lost he kept working hard and got another fight with the champ and won. And from that point on he was able to make something of himself. After the movie I remembered I thought about how many people actually get back up after a loss and end up making it to the Top. At the time was about 8 or 9 and still thought that all your dreams will come true no matter what. It wasn’t until a few years later that I realized how much you have to put in to reach your dream and that sometimes no matter how much work you put in, you might not make it.
I’m going to tell you a story about how sometimes you come short in reaching your dreams. 1988, Felipe Fernandez is sitting on the steps of one of Cali’s worst boxing gyms, waiting for it to open. He was forced to come to “Crenshaw’s Boxing Club” because other gyms wouldn’t accept him because of his history. Felipe was affiliated with the Crenshaw mafia and would often get into fights with rival gang members. Felipe thought the trainers and the other members of the boxing club were ok, it was just that the gym would sometimes be broken into. Many of the street gangs nearby liked to break in and have their initiations or simply pass the time their. In the mornings, the trainers and members would find blood stains, broken beer bottles, needles, cigarette buds, and spray paintings all over the walls and mirrors. And when it wasn’t broken into, their would be shootings and fights right outside the gym. But Felipe never let any of this bother him mostly because he was used to it. It was kind of sad really, he was only 16 and was use to gunshots, fights, and drugs being all around him.

Felipe was anxious to start his workout, considering that the fight that would determine whether or not he would be able to participate in the Golden Gloves tournament was in two weeks. He was already pretty confident, since he had been training like crazy for the past 4 months. He saw his trainer Mike or “DM” as he like to be called, coming out of the liquor store, with what looked like a 40oz in a brown paperback. As he got closer he asked “it’s 7 in the morning, shouldn’t you be at school?” Felipe responded “Ima go after I do my workout.” “You know your brother don’t like you missing school.” “Yea whateva, Ima go just as soon as I’m done wit dis.” Normally DM would force him to go to school because he was friends with his brother, but he knew how important the fight was to him, so he let it slip.

After Felipe was done with his workout, he was so tired that he just decided to go home and rest. When he woke up, he heard voices coming from the kitchen. As he got closer to the kitchen he heard his guidance counselor talking to his brother. “Look I know it’s been hard on him since his mom passed away, but he has missed over 3 weeks of school in the last 2 months. And the time he has been coming to school he has been late.” said Mr. Furious. Antonio responded. “I know but he still holds himself responsible for what happened.” “Well what exactly happened.” Said Mr. Furious. “Our mom was very sick, and while Felipe was at the gym she suffocated on her own vomit. Felipe feels that if he was home, she would still be alive.” Felipe didn’t want to here anymore, so he went back to bed.

As DM was putting on the handwrap, Antonio walked in with the referee. Antonio said “Mr.Pierce needs to talk to you.” “About what.” said Felipe. Mr. Pierce said. “When we do the performance enhancer test, we also test for other substances such as meth,cocaine, and marijuana.” As Mr. Pierce had finished that last word , the look on Felipe’s face said it all. Mr. Pierce continued. “Last week your test was positive but we tested it gain to make sure, and well we got the results yesterday but we couldn’t reach you.” Mr.Pierce handed the results to Felipe and said. “I’m sorry, but because of this incident you forfeit the fight.”

Two years later, he got another shot and went to the tournament and won. He is also going to school regularly and is spending more time with his brother and friends. He doesn’t hold himself accountable anymore for what happened to his mom. And visits her grave every week and shadowboxes until the sun goes down. So sometimes you don’t always reach your dream the first time you try. But just because you don’t reach your dream that one time, doesn’t mean you should stop altogether. What makes someone successful is how many time they get back up no matter how many time they get pushed to the ground.