Rocky, Roark, And Getting It Right
January 14, 2007
8:51 p.m., MT

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to take my exercise and workouts to the next level; for inspiration in meeting the challenge, I found myself watching Rocky a few times this weekend, and also found myself comparing and contrasting Rocky to Howard Roark, the main character in Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.

In the novel, though we meet Roark at a young age, he is already fully-formed (philosophically speaking), and implicitly guiding his life according to premises forming the foundation of Rand's philosophy, and which are consistent with the basic principles held by most of us who are trying to live lives characterized by liberty and individualism.

In contrast, Rocky is in his thirties when the story opens, and has spent his life working hard, but in a misguided fashion. His trainer Mickey tells him that he could have been a champion if only he'd had sharper focus and dedication to his goal. Instead, Rocky had worked part-time as a leg-breaker for a loan-shark. "It's a living", says Rocky. "It's a waste of life", replies Mickey.

Nathaniel Branden once noted that many Objectivists who come to him seeking counseling or therapy feel guilty that they don't have it together like Howard Roark did. Many of them are in their thirties or older, and still have no idea as to what they want to do with their lives. Branden correctly tells them that there's nothing inherently wrong with that.

I know a few people who fit (as far as I can tell) the model of Roark; they knew exactly what they wanted from an early age and focused every step of their developmental years on getting closer to that goal; most of them had extremely supportive families to assist them, but the goal itself burned so brightly as to guide even those who did not.

My own life--along with those of most people I've known-- has never fit this model. Our lives have often been filled with false starts, misguided experiments, dashed hopes, lack of focus, broken families and short-lived relationships. But learning from these things can enable us to flourish, and can be a crucial aspect in the process of finding one's true goals.

To the degree that it's proper to have one's life influenced by a work of fiction, I much prefer Rocky to The Fountainhead, but plan on keeping the lessons of both firmly in mind as this year unfolds.

Now, off to the gym...

The Shadow

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