One famous scene of Officer Lewis (Nancy Allen) trying to connect emotionally to a detached Robocop (Peter Weller). Robocop was a leader in it’s genre to mix heavy action and explore themes such as life after death and the pain of our “True Calling” (with thanks to Orion Pictures for the image use).
My early childhood was actually a great time until about the age of 11 (when my mother was dying and a bout of homelessness set my life in a new direction – but another story for another time).
I used to be a very typical child out in the South Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. I had friends, birthday parties, was obsessed with Optimus Prime and when my parents were together – there was lots of money and I was the envy of all my friends with my Commodore 64 and even had a 5 1/4 Disk Drive (yes, anyone over 35 will get that).
Basically, I was the 6 year old with the iPad 4.0 or the latest Surface 2. I was just darn cool!!
My childhood was defined by 3 major films that being an only child made me watch them over and over again. Robocop, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and of course Flying High (known as Airplane! in North America). If you know me personally, that revelation explains probably every aspect of my warped, demented but very funny type of humor.
I have had an extreme life compared to most people, facing many life and death situations which originally I thought was a curse for all the sickness, mental illnesses and problems it left me with. Later in life, I found it to be a blessing as there is no way in hell I could do my job without those extreme situations.
Robocop 1987 was one of my favourite films and I would have watched it when I was 9 years old. I had it on VHS and would watch it over and over again knowing almost every scene word for word. I used to sometimes dream of being killed and coming back as a Cyborg Cop out to bring justice to all the mean kids who used to bully and push me around in school later in life.
Writing about it makes me quite sentimental and it has me thinking not so much about near physical death in my early 20’s where I was bleeding out after losing my position – but more my most painful death:
– When I got washed up at the age of 29, Jillian (my Fiance) left me, was unemployed for 12 months and had to start my life again in Sydney (coming from Hobart).
29 to 32 were easily the most painful years of my life and ironically the societal economic death was was more painful that my almost physical death and the ending of my life (that wasn’t actually that bad, but another story for another time).
In the film Robocop, Officer Alex Murphy (played beautifully by Peter Weller) is a dedicated Cop working the streets of a dystopian futuristic Detroit going bankrupt and being taken over by a private Corporation. In a very violent scene he is brutally executed and murdered by an organized gang and the “Good Guys” of the film, OCP (“Omni Consumer Products” – basically the company that owns Detroit and the Police Force) take his remains and builds him into a Killer Cyborg.
Without blowing the story line, his new form gives him the abilities to finish what he originally started with the soul of a human and the strength & precision of a machine. The film is amazing and even by today’s standards it looked at some amazing themes that many films barely touch today including:
– Life after Death.
– The importance of Sacrifice.
– The breakdown of the Justice System.
– The rise of crime.
– The domination of the wealthy class.
– When money controls the code of law.
– The ethics of combining humans with machines.
– The Privatization of the world with Corporations becoming the Government.
In relating this to my more recent emotional death of being washed up, and having to start my life again – I find Robocop a great analogy of what happened to me emotionally. I was mentally beaten, had my livelihood taken, my “Friends” all left me and I had no purpose in society and even tried to get unemployment benefits.
When I finally let go of my old life and embraced the “New World” this was when I was released as “Robo-Ed” (on a funny ironic note, Robocop fights an automated machine called “Ed-209”). As this new character which I am today, I was tougher, harder to beat, more intelligent and had a greater sense of purpose and duty.
In fact, without me “Dying” and being “Robo-Ed” there is no way I could do my job and help people like I do today. Being on the brink of my life caused me to become tougher, more spiritual and massively work on myself to build my skill into the Marketing Mentor I am today. Also, I had to “Be on the bottom” to truly understand it to connect with people today who are in the mental dark place I used to be. To me this brings back the interesting point in Robocop:
– There is no way Officer Alex Murphy could defeat the bad guys. He had to die and come back as Robocop to do it.
To me that is quite a powerful metaphor in that especially when it comes to running a Small Business and being an entrepreneur – many of us in our “Current Form” are incapable of achieving it. Now, I am not saying you have to destroy your life like I did and upset your Fiance so they leave you, but I am saying you have to be willing to change and embrace a new vision for the future.
For some it’s quite easy, for most (including me) you need to shoot up some of your old believes and views. Do you think your boss is the most important person in your life? Are you scared of putting yourself out there? Does the thought of being 100% responsible for your own destiny freak you out? Are you still not ready for the Market and Financial Success you truly deserve?
If you answered yes to any of these it’s okay! The trick is being honest with your own thoughts and limitations and everyday improving slightly. This may be through just pushing yourself, training, purchasing my fine Awesome Marketing Vault full of Top Sales & Marketing Strategies (come on, great that I popped that one in there LOL) or even just keeping an open mind and being ready to change based on factual information presented to you (without ego of any hint of defensiveness).
So if you are currently not the “Cyborg Version” of yourself that you think you can be, then start the process! Learn, explore and become the Awesome Person that is your pure calling in life!
Thank you for taking the time to read this and have an Awesome day or night out there. Big thanks from Edward “Robo” Zia – Small Business Marketing Mentor and boy who grew up watching too many movies.
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