It is hardly to say that Sylvester Stallone would be an inspiration to any girl nowadays. It is hardly to say that he could have been an inspiration to any girl even when I was younger. With his half-paralyzed lip, speech disorder, constantly wet out of sweat, ready to use his fists, even the fire guns, if needed, playing roles that used to make boys ecstatic and forcing girls to change the TV program…

In times of resurrection of „the American dream“, due to Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race, while thinking whether the only people entitled to dreams live in America, on my way to work, with head phones in my ears, I often listen to this major hit – Gonna fly now… And I go through this film scene over and over again. Scene when Rocky and his dog run up the stairs before the entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

If I ever made a list, and I often do make lists lately, of the people who inspire me and whose story I like to share, Sylvester Stallone would rank quite high on that list.

Few people know that Stallone was penniless when he wrote an amateur script for Rocky. Few people know that Stallone wrote it. That he wrote it in three days. And that he was forced to sell his dog for $25 and with $25 in his pocket went to see the boxing match, which was actually a trigger for Stallone to write the script. Few people know that, at that time, penniless Stallone rejected the offer to sell his script for $125.000, because for him, to just sell the script was simply not good enough. He wanted to embody Rocky at the big screen. Stallone wanted it all. But he was not impatient to get it right away. And he wasn’t greedy. He took his dream off the market and put it into a safe place. The rest is history…

Stallone became and remained Rocky. He bought back his dog and gave the dog also a role in the movie. And the two of them ran up those 72 stairs together, both at the big screen and in life. That is the scene I always go back to. Dreams are there to be dreamed, to be wished sincerely, with all your heart, dreams are there even when you are left alone and have nothing to cling to. In a situation when the rain is pouring through your ceiling, when you are penniless, jobless, when you are desperate and have nothing to hold on to, when you are lonely, depressed, hopeless, or when you feel irrelevant… Dreams are always there. They fill your heart, take you into meditation mode, they set you free…

There is this saying, used by contemporary authors almost like a tooth brush, which you can find even printed on a bottle of water, how you should only make a wish, sincerely from the heart, and then the whole universe will make a conspiracy in order to make your wish come true. But… There is a but. Only if you are not greedy. Only if you can wait. Only if you do not sell your dream for $125.000 or even a million… Unless that’s what you wish for… To get millions… Universe won’t help you with that. In that case, you can only rely on your fists and elbows, outside the boxing ring.

If I ever made a list, and I often do make lists lately, of the places I want to see and conquer, Rocky Steps would rank pretty high on that list. I wish it would snow, while I repeat in my head over and over this major hit – Gonna fly now…