Philadelphia: Rocky Solid
There are some movie scenes that will never go away, and some of them will last forever.
I still remember that scene from a low budget movie from the 1970s made by a guy named Silvester Stallone: The protagonist gets up early in the morning, goes to a meat storage where his friend works, punches the dead pigs over there for a while, and then runs up a long stairway in front of a Parthenon style building. Once at the top, he raises his hands high in the air like he is the king of the world, although he ends up losing what he trained so hard for: a boxing match against the world champion.
Yes, I'm talking about Rocky. Rocky is the classic example of a grassroots underdog, and definitely a manifestation of the notion of American Dream: if you work hard, everything is possible. Eventually he loses the match, but he does earn the respect of the entire nation (and earns the respect of the audience as well, which in turn gives us Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V................): because he is only supposed to last at most 3 rounds as a part of a show match. But this crazy, working-class guy takes it seriously and trains himself so hard and so capable that he even sends the world champion Apollo Creed to the wheelchair.
The location where Rocky hoists his hands high is the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The city of brotherly love is also where the story of Rocky takes place.As the birth place of America, Philadelphia is home to a huge number of artifacts and things that are related to the U.S Independence. The constitution was drafted there, George Washington spent his entire 8 years of presidency there, and of course, the Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell you can literally spot everywhere in America are all located in the city of Philadelphia.
To me, Philadelphia is a very special city that's unique in its own way. When I first went to Philly, it was Christmas time. Most of the restaurants and shops were closed. Our family had nowhere to spend the evening (we didn't want to just spend the night at the hotel). We ended up going to the Christmas market, which none of the shops were open for a very apparent reason (come on, it was Christmas Day). The market's Christmas decorations, together with the magnificent Philadelphia City Hall in the background, had made Philadelphia a lively city, although there weren't any people around.....The only exceptions were some other tourists who got nothing to do on Christmas Day, and the city's homeless people. The latter were very kind and friendly. Some of the guys even went on to the streets and directed the traffic when one of the traffic light went broken!
The next morning, I found out that many of the homeless were actually sleeping on the city's many underground vents, where the city's skyscrapers release its hot steams into the open air. Philadelphia is known for its cold winters, and I was surprised to find out that the local homeless community had already figured out a way to fight with the cold weather. Near the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin, one of the most famous Philadelphians ever to be known to the world, I saw a homeless man right cross the street waking up after a long night's sleep in the middle of the white cloud. He quickly stood up and wrapped his sleeping bag around his body, then walked away. I have seen many though people in my life, but this "though man" had left me a very strong impression.
Maybe everyone in Philadelphia is tough. I know at least Rocky is. The guy who crossed the Delaware River was probably very tough too, considering that he was fighting against the most powerful empire in the world at the time. Ever heard of a guy named Donald Trump? That guy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, which is located right in Philly. Did he learn his "toughness" from Philadelphia? I can tell that the folks in Philly are busily denying it and they would tell you that only the rivaling New Yorkers are capable of such "toughness".
Whether you like Philadelphia or not, you gotta agree that this is a city that defines what American Dreams are all about. People often say that underdogs don't have a chance, then here came Philadelphia - which became the first capital city of a new nation who defeated the most powerful country on earth at that time. Maybe Rocky was lucky to have such opportunity, but his hard work eventually earned everyone's respect both in and outside the silver-screen. Many homeless people believed themselves to be underdogs, those who improved the lives of themselves by finding creative ways to survive also helped to improve the lives of others by serving others during the time of needs. Heroes were not born outta nowhere like in the movies. In reality, the heroes always came from one of us.
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| Downtown Philadelphia |
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| Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| The Rocky Statue in front of the museum (and lots of vendors selling Rocky T-Shirts nearby) |
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| View from the top of the "Rocky stairway" |
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| Philadelphia on Christmas Day |
The next morning, I found out that many of the homeless were actually sleeping on the city's many underground vents, where the city's skyscrapers release its hot steams into the open air. Philadelphia is known for its cold winters, and I was surprised to find out that the local homeless community had already figured out a way to fight with the cold weather. Near the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin, one of the most famous Philadelphians ever to be known to the world, I saw a homeless man right cross the street waking up after a long night's sleep in the middle of the white cloud. He quickly stood up and wrapped his sleeping bag around his body, then walked away. I have seen many though people in my life, but this "though man" had left me a very strong impression.
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| A Statue of Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia |
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| On the second floor of this three story building, Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence |
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| The Independence Hall |
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