International Parenting Commitment Day - March 20

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Parent of the Month

CINDERELLA MEN
by Kathy Whirity

It was the afternoon of Father's Day.

The girls had just treated us to a lavish lunch at Bill's favorite restaurant, and the two of us were contemplating our options for the rest of the special day.

We had a few choices -- a leisurely walk around the neighborhood, a bike ride through a scenic preserve, or go to the movies.

Since it was Father's Day, Bill chose to go to the movies to see Cinderella Man, the true story of Depression Era boxer, Jim Braddock.

I'm not what you'd call a Russell Crowe fan (he's playing the main character) and a movie set in the time period of over 75 years ago didn't exactly ring my bell, but it was, after all, Bill's big day so off to the movies we went.

A few minutes into the movie I was sure I was going to hate it. The scenes of Depression era poverty and hopelessness hung heavy on the big screen. Rationing mere morsels of food, going without heat and electricity, causing little children to shiver and suffer in the wrath of winter storms wasn't shaping up to be my cup of tea.

But then something happened.

Memories of my own dad, God rest his soul, gave me reason to view this movie in a different perspective.

My dad was a young boy in the early 30s. His family suffered great financial loss along with countless others. His childhood was a hand to mouth existence, and more times than not, his had reached his mouth totally empty.

Jim Braddock worked hard for his family. He fought in the ring, ever faithful to his manager. Then a broken hand caused the end of a promising boxing career. He stood in long work lines doing his best to hide the cast on his broken hand while working through the pain for a pittance of pay to feed his family.

I thought about the stories told across the kitchen table, when I was young -- how my father's father worked as a laborer in just a thin spring jacket in the middle of bone chilling winter, to pay the bills. As a kid, I didn't really appreciate or understand the sacrifice, but sitting in the theater as a middle-aged adult my eyes
soaked up the surroundings of unbearable situations.

That afternoon, as I saw children on the screen going without necessities, I felt like I was witnessing a tiny fraction of my father's reality.

Jim Braddock got a second chance at boxing. No one in their right mind would predict this opportunity could lead to a comeback but that's just what happens. On the eve of a big fight, he tells a reporter that he now knows what he's fighting for -- milk money.

The reporter, clueless and most probably childless, doesn't grasp the meaning. In every father's heart in those hard and horrific times was the same sentiment of survival. Watching scenes of New York's Central Park reduced to a hovel of homeless people made it almost hard to comprehend that America once was so destitute it resembled a third world country.

Jim Braddock embodied the hope of America in his time.

People were inspired by this underdog who had the courage, will and perseverance to succeed. A poignant part of the movie shows Jim paying back every penny of assistance given to him when he was left with no choice but to accept the hand out from welfare.

I will never forget what happened shortly after placing my father in a nursing home. He could not bring himself to eat what he considered "free" meals. He'd spend a good portion of his days hanging around the nurse's station asking for a job.

"I can work to pay for my meals," he'd tell anyone who would listen.

My dad was stricken with Alzheimer's but the character built in him through the toughest of times remained with him forever.

We baby-boomers have been blessed in the sense that we will never truly know the gut wrenching sacrifice that spurned our ancestors to live passionately in times of pitifully dire straits at a time when the whole of America was the underdog that would rise up once again to beat the odds -- true champions of spirit.

Sitting in the darkened theater tears couldn't help but fall. In a sense, the movie brought me to the realization that, like Jim Braddock, the heroes of America back then were the fathers waiting in mile long work lines to put food on the table to feed starving children.

This was Father's Day. I thought about my father and his father before him, with loving humbleness and quiet respect for enduring what I will never face. My memory lingered on the man who gave me life, who often times went to bed hungry, with nothing more than the clothes on his back. He grew up to work hard to provide for his family the privileges he had never known.

A really touching movie, I left the theater thankful for all the Cinderella Men of the Depression Era -- heroes who rose to the challenge to give their families all the best they could.

Truly America's inspiration in extremely difficult times.

kathywhirity@yahoo.com

Committed Parent of the Month Nominations

Please send nominations for Committed Parent of the Month to ipp57@aol.com. Each month a new parent will be selected who has demonstrated an active commitment to his or her family. The winner will be displayed on the www.10commitments.net website and will be moved to the Committed Parent of the Month archives the following month.