Hold Out For Your Dreams

Here’s a great story about determination, belief in yourself despite the odds and holding out for your dreams inspiring story: Back in the 1950s, a boy was born in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. He was born with a partially paralyzed face, which as he grew up gave him a slightly snarly look and slurred speech. He did not have a great upbringing. His parents fought a lot. He struggled with homework and got expelled from multiple schools. Eventually, the boy, Michael, and his brother Frank were put into foster care. During his teenage years, he discovered a passion for acting, as a way to express himself and began to pursue his dream of becoming a professional actor. Acting jobs were sparse and he had to work multiple jobs to sustain himself and his wife. Due to his financial struggles, he even took on a role in an adult film. By the end of his 20s, he was desperate for something bigger, something significant that would finally help him make his dreams come true. And then one night, he went out to see Muhammad Ali fight Chuck Wepner. “And what I saw was pretty extraordinary,” Michael would say later. “I saw a virtually unknown fighter called ‘The Bayonne Bleeder’ fight the greatest fighter who ever lived. And for one brief moment, this supposed stumblebum turned out to be magnificent. He survived the punches and lasted the rounds and even knocked the champ down. I thought if this isn’t a metaphor for life?”