Life is comprised of moments—big ones, little ones, happy ones, and brutal ones. These moments can bend us to their will, and sometimes, we ride to meet them with gusto.
A fire burns in the night in that moment, a life is lost. A family is broken, as a father and a son will struggle to find themselves in the ashes of the world left behind. They weren’t made for that moment, that moment changed them. They were made by that moment.
When the father found his son, he mollycoddled him, protecting the young man from even accidentally burning his hand on the stove. He held him back from making his own decisions to the point that he rebelled, getting himself into situations where he was in over his head, and the father still mollycoddled him by bailing him out every time it happened.
It all traces back to that moment, doesn’t it, James? You and your papa were made by that moment. It turned your father into the overprotective mother you lost, who won’t let you out from under their apron when you break free. Escaping from that protective grip you find yourself kidnapped, beaten, gassed, and in trouble. Those moments where you’re over your head and will never live up to them yourself.
This week it’s business as usual James. When you’re on your own you can’t live up to the moment in front of you but here’s the thing, Daddy isn’t coming to save you. He can’t be, in that ring, nobody can save you. Because, there ain’t no magic bullet to put me down, there’s no cure for your weakness, and I ain’t a sympathetic shoulder here but I will damn sure put you to sleep. While you’re not going to measure up to this moment, I’ve been made for this very moment. A cold uncaring form of tough love that your father fears giving you as he fears losing you.
Because I’ve spent a lifetime in a world where I’ve yearned to give my daughter so much as a hug. To get the moments that you and Maxwell get to have. Those moments of bonding, the teachable moments of struggling together. It’s the fact that I’ve missed out on all of those moments that’s made me the man for this moment, the man to show you the value you should have for your dad.
It’s the lack of those moments which you’ve been able to experience, that’ve created the stone wall that you’re about to run headlong into. Because you know, all it takes is one shot, one kill and those moments with your daddy vanish into thin air, everything going up in the very smoke from the fire which precipitated your entire endeavor, and brought you to my door. So, lace those booties of yours up tight, and prepare yourself for the moment that will make or break you. Because Nobody knows how to deliver a teachable moment, like nobody.