Motivational Movies: Rudy - Part 1

As of now I open a section dedicated to extract the most important motivational ideas from the best movies I have seen. Unfortunately, the literature that specializes in motivational materials usually have serious disadvantages. Books and motivational videos are usually boring and repetitive, and although there are very good ones, most people are simply not interested in investing their time to read them.

With movies, a funny thing happens: everyone talks about them and no one will ever judge you as boring to talk about a movie in most social contexts. They also have a very striking form and therefore we do not usually have trouble remembering our favorite ones. Personally, I assume that the multimedia material is the best one to reach the greatest number of people, and I also believe that, while most movies and videos are crap, there are numerous ways to take advantage of the movies that we like.

Recently, I had the pleasure to watch a 1993 movie titled "Rudy". It is the true story of a young man who all his life wanted to be a football player. Sadly he was too small and weak to do so. Most of his family ended up working without a promising future. But Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger wanted to play for the prestigious Notre Dame University.

Everyone around him, including his teachers, described him as a dreamer and he was cruelly discouraged whenever he talked about his dreams. And maybe they were right: His grades were low, his athletic skills were poor and his body was small and thin. No one in his family had gone to college and he had no money.

Nevertheless, Rudy always had his attention on his great illusion: being on the Notre Dame team. He will do the impossible to fulfill his dream. Unlike other films about sports, Rudy's struggle is very real and well dramatized. Although Rudy ate, slept and breathed football, that did not transform him automatically in the best player on his team. However, in one way or another, Rudy's dream will come true. Rudy had the heart and spirit of a warrior, despite not having an appropriate body to help him get what he wanted so badly.

How impossible dreams are?

You can not watch this film without, inevitably, be inspired by Rudy's heart and mental strength. Everybody tease him because his dreams are bigger than his body. His friends and family constantly discouraged him, criticized him and laughed at his stubborn ideas.

Surely, if we had met Rudy, most of us would conclude that his dream was impossible. We would tell him that you he was wasting his time and energy on a goal that was far beyond from what he could achieve. His intellectual and physical qualifications were few and mediocre. He had no money. He had not the body of an athlete. Apparently, everything was against him and anyone could notice it almost instantly. If any of us were to see someone like him with the same dreams, surely, we would think that he/she is delusional.

With all odds against him, Rudy fought against his fate and he never cared about other's opinions, even when those opinions were, more or less, "reasonable" ones. At first, he was drawn by his family's fate. After school, he started working. But a painful event in his life will change his mind.

Soon, the second part of this story will be published on the blog. Meanwhile, go watch the movie.

You can read a slightly different version of this post in spanish here: Inspiración de película: Rudy: Reto a la gloria