Seabiscuit and The Rookie


I was thinking of making a more appropriate title for this entry but I couldn't think one so I titled this entry about the what today's article is all about - two movies I've recently watched and left me never the same after I watched these two films - Seabiscuit and The Rookie.

Seabiscuit, a heart warming story set during America's Great Depression. The movie starts with the individual lives of 4 characters... Jeff Bridges who played a role of a car inventor, who made millions because of this, whose son died from an accident from a car he himself built; Chris Cooper who played the role of a white-washed, horse whisperer, a cowboy who had his time; Tobey Maguire as Red, a homeless jockey, whose parents had given him away cause they can't afford to raise him anymore and Seabiscuit, a small horse who everyone thinks is stubborn and a weakling. These four distinct beings met given the circumstance where horse racing is the "in" thing during the Great Depression. It's marvelous how the qualities - both good and bad intertwined and changed themselves to better beings. Jeff Bridges financed Seabiscuit's training hiring Chris Cooper to do the job cause he's the best horse whisperer around. Chris Cooper saw Tobey Maguire's amazing affinity with horses. Seabiscuit, though small, can fly high cause he's got a jockey that loves him. Watching this movie, I realized that our pasts don't define us on what we want to be. I believe that God has given us a choice to live our lives to change into better people, serving for the common good.

This morning, I watched The Rookie starring Dennis Quaid whose dreams of becoming a professional baseball player are thwarted when he was young. Moving constantly from place to place and his father's discouragement made him lose hope and live as he thought to live. Now he is a grown up man teaching science and coaching the school's baseball team. He helped them win but he felt a pressing need to fulfill his dreams of being a baseball pitcher. His throwing speed of 98 mi/h can get him to the major league but he had inner demons to fight with. So he worked it through and made it up to the major league despite his age. What God has planted in your heart will never be taken away. Discouragements may be hurled at you even from your own family but trust God cause it is from Him these dreams originate.