Fearless

"Mastering others is strength.
Mastering yourself makes you fearless."
-Lao Tzu

This quote was used in the trailers for Jet Li's Fearless. It describes his character, Huo Yuanjia (a real person), very well. Based on a real life person in Chinese history, Master Huo became an incredibly gifted martial artist for the wrong reasons- to beat up challengers and be the best fighter in Tianjin. Ashamed, he retreats for several years out in the country and completely changes his attitude around. After returning to Tianjin, he faces international opponents and starts up his new school, the Jingwu Sports Federation, where he emphasized the continual improvement of body, mind, and spirit. Two contrasting scenes that show this transformation: Before he went away, he demanded Master Chin to sign a death waiver before fighting him. After returning, he fought Herculoes O'Brien (the big fighter, Boagrias, at the beginning of Troy). When asked to sign a death waiver before the match, he politely refused, and ended up saving O'Brien's life, howing respect to his opponent.

I just watched a documentary called Emmanuel's Gift. In Ghana, 10% of the population is disabled. Emmnauel was born with his right leg twisted and unusable. In Ghana, most of the disabled population resorts to begging on the streets and are mostly ignored and considered worthless. Emmanuel doesn't see things as most other people do. He wrote a letter to a foundation in the U.S. asking for a bike, so he can ride it across Ghana and prove the stereotype about disabled people wrong. Since his ride across Ghana, he has gone on to touch countless people around the world and help the disabled population in Ghana. Mastering yourself makes you fearless.

So how do we learn from these incredible men? Obviously, there's way more in each film, and I hope you see the whole movies if you have not already. Find out what you are good at, and pursue it with as much passion as humanly possible.