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Tiwaz and "Cinderella Man"
Dec. 6th, 2009 09:20 pmThis afternoon I watched the movie "Cinderella Man" for the first time.
The story takes place during the Great Depression, and the family has not been able to pay their bills, including the power bill, because not only has Jim been dropped from fighting, his right hand is broken so it's difficult for him to get manual day jobs. His wife, unable to cope any longer with the sight of their three young children suffering in the cold of winter, takes them to stay with more affluent family members. When Jim comes home and discovers this, he gets angry. He's promised their son that they will never be sent away, no matter how tough things get.
To try to keep his family together, he takes the ferry from New Jersey to New York, to Madison Square Garden, where he once was a championship fighter. He goes upstairs to a club room, where men in suits are smoking cigars. He stands there, ragged, bruised, a cast on his right hand, and explains to these men that he needs twenty-four dollars to pay off the electric bill so his family can have heat and be together. He is literally standing there hat-in-hand, begging for money.
As I was watching this, I suddenly flashed on the statue of Tiwaz I posted about a few days ago and heard LM speaking quietly to me. For Jim Braddock, standing there with his hat in his hand, utterly without pride, was the equivalent of Tiwaz putting his hand in the wolf's mouth. He didn't count the price to himself, only the consequences for those whom he loved and for whom he felt responsible.
It was amazing how clear it was. . .
The story takes place during the Great Depression, and the family has not been able to pay their bills, including the power bill, because not only has Jim been dropped from fighting, his right hand is broken so it's difficult for him to get manual day jobs. His wife, unable to cope any longer with the sight of their three young children suffering in the cold of winter, takes them to stay with more affluent family members. When Jim comes home and discovers this, he gets angry. He's promised their son that they will never be sent away, no matter how tough things get.
To try to keep his family together, he takes the ferry from New Jersey to New York, to Madison Square Garden, where he once was a championship fighter. He goes upstairs to a club room, where men in suits are smoking cigars. He stands there, ragged, bruised, a cast on his right hand, and explains to these men that he needs twenty-four dollars to pay off the electric bill so his family can have heat and be together. He is literally standing there hat-in-hand, begging for money.
As I was watching this, I suddenly flashed on the statue of Tiwaz I posted about a few days ago and heard LM speaking quietly to me. For Jim Braddock, standing there with his hat in his hand, utterly without pride, was the equivalent of Tiwaz putting his hand in the wolf's mouth. He didn't count the price to himself, only the consequences for those whom he loved and for whom he felt responsible.
It was amazing how clear it was. . .
