Touchback

I finally saw the movie “Touchback”. It was good. My wife enjoyed it because it tells the story of a local “star” who becomes a “failure” – and then a “star” (of sorts) again – once he realizes how “good” he has it and embraces the life that is his: his crummy job (hopeless as it is), his meager income, his crummy house and vehicle, his (somewhat homely, klutzy) wife and beautiful children, who love him. Another character in the movie – whom this “fallen hero” idealizes (and will one day become) – is the high school football coach and chemistry teacher (a comparison with me not lost on my wife). The ending is a bit “It's A Wonderful Life”, perhaps not as fully enjoyable, by comparison, but only because the older movie hits all the right notes and has such an unexpected – and perfect – crescendo. No other movie can touch the same subject and top it.

But I learned from watching this movie that my wife yet loves me; that she supports my efforts and prays that I will “come back” and rise, again, from the ashes of my “broken” life; that being driven on my heels, again and again, by a seemingly overwhelming foe, I may have lost a few points (suffered a “touchback”), but I have also been handed the ball again and still have the chance to score, even win the game.

And maybe, just maybe, having it all to do over again, we just might choose the same painful course, to get back what we had, to regain what we otherwise would have lost. Maybe, without the pain, we just might not have seen what it is we really want, what we truly love and need, who we truly are and who we're truly meant to be with.

As Kurt Russell's character emphasizes in this movie, it's not just about talent, it's about heart and having the right attitude. “Attitude Is Everything” the sign above the locker room says.

Attitude is everything.