I recently discovered a podcast featuring the history of the Rocky Balboa statue in Philadelphia. Rocky, the Italian Stallion, was the fictitious boxer portrayed by Sylvester Stallone in numerous movies, in which he ran around hitting meat slabs hanging in a freezer and yelling “Yo, Adrian”. Like me, you are now smiling at remembering that scene of Rocky pulverizing a side of beef. Now, this particular statue stands adjacent to the steps leading up to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, those same steps that Rocky famously ran up in the first movie, with the theme song “Gonna Fly Now” playing in the background.
In the podcast, I learned that, in spite of being moved several times, the statue gets more visitors than the Liberty Bell, something I could not believe. So I researched it; and you know what? It’s true. The Liberty Bell gets between one and two million visitors each year. The Rocky statue? Four million. And if you are like me, right now you are thinking that is just crazy…and it sort of is. For a history guy, it is insane to think that a bronze statue of a fictitious individual, and originally meant as a movie prop, is seen by a lot more people than one of the nation’s symbols of freedom and an American treasure, which ironically, is also made of bronze.
The Liberty Bell had its origin in the state house in Philadelphia. Issac Norris, the Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly, commissioned a bell to be cast from a company in London. When it arrived in Philadelphia and rung for the first time, it cracked. So, John Pass and John Stow, both local metalworkers, melted down the bell and cast a new one. This new bell was used for decades, until a small crack appeared in the 1840s. Finally, in 1846, city officials decided to repair the bell by making the crack bigger…that’s right…they made the crack bigger and drilled over 40 holes into it, with the hope of preventing the split from spreading. Unfortunately the repair did not work, and another small crack appeared. Sadly, the bell would never be rung again.
Today, the Liberty Bell sits on display and is seen by…a couple of million visitors, while two and a half miles away, Rocky sees twice that amount. There must be something about the 11 foot statue, or at least what it represents, that makes it such an attraction for so many people. Here is what I think. It’s not that the sculpture is an award winning piece of art. In fact, there is much controversy over the placement of the statue near the Museum of Art, because many art professionals think of it as a movie prop, and not a piece of actual art. I think it is that the subject awakens in us an idea, that when life knocks you down, you find the power to get back up. Rocky said it best in the movie Rocky Balboa (effectively Rocky 6). In the scene where his son blames his dad for his own shortcomings, Rocky tells him in his blue collar Italian voice,
“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t how hard you hit; it’s about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done.”
That is what is represented in the bronze statue…and what is hopefully present in each of us. The ability to rebound after taking life’s most brutal beating. In each of Rocky’s fights, he is on the verge of being defeated. He is bloody. His face looks like a mack truck ran over it…a hundred times. But it is what happens next that has each one of us on the edge of our seat. The pain is screaming for him to stay down, but something else inside him is screaming to get back up. The crowd begins to chant his name. And we know what’s next. Now, I know that it makes for a good storyline, but we all cheer Rocky on as he fights back from the brink of defeat. And when the knockout punch is landed, his opponent goes down for good.
The Rocky movies are all about the grit of the battle in the ring. But there are also those gritty and brutally honesty conversations, like the one between Rocky and his son. Life is hard, and if you are not careful, it will beat you to your knees. Actually, that isn’t correct. No matter how careful you are, life will beat you to your knees. It will smack you, slap you, punch you, kick you, and anything else it can to bring you down. But you cannot remain there. You have to get back up, and get moving forward again. You have to find a way, like Rocky, to get off the ground, off the ropes, off the verge of defeat, and back on your feet. And when all seems lost, in the words of TobyMac, “Help is on the way.”
The Liberty Bell was struck time after time for 90 years, each time signaling assemblymen that it was time to…assemble. Then one day, while being rung, the crack appeared in the bell. As we have already seen, it kept getting bigger, and in spite of their best efforts, experts could not fix it. When life smacks us and takes us down, we too become bruised and cracked. The difference is, there is an expert who can fix us. We are never too far damaged. We are never beyond repair. Open the New Testament, and discover the man who for 38 years lay by the pool waiting to be the first to enter the healing waters. Discover the man whose friends examined the surroundings and found that the only way to the teacher was through the roof. Discover the woman who bled for 12 years. Discover the widow’s son and the ruler’s daughter. Life was cruel for these individuals. It kicked them down…hard; but then Jesus, who understood human nature better than anyone else, came on scene and picked them up. And what metallurgists could not do for a bell, the Son of God did for humanity.
Faith, Leadership, and History 