Of
all the sins that Scarface committed, the one that ruined him was
pride. He did hurt and humiliate people, but he made the mistake of
thinking they were beneath him. I assume it's a common trap when
you're rich and powerful, but don't let status blind you to the rest
of the world. There are millions of others without the same success,
and that means they have a million things to teach you.
Let's
say there's someone you can't stand; you hate the sound of their
voice and the stupid grin on their face. Naturally, you want to
dismiss whatever they say, but doing so could be the last thing you
do. Consider the words of your worst enemy. We must learn from others
to survive.
Classic
Movie Trailers - Scarface (1983)
Do you want to know your chances at winning the lottery? That depends on where you live, but let's use an example. To hit the New York jackpot you have to be very fortunate; the honor goes to one person in two-hundred and sixty million.
It's
a pretty harsh reality for all of the dreamers, but people spend a
lot of money chasing that dream. I'd wager that almost all ticket
buyers, put more into the pot than they'll ever get out of it. They
might be aware of the terrible odds, but the numbers racket is still
big business. Maybe they think they're different or special; so how
lucky do you think you are?
Al
Capone died in prison. Pablo Escobar was shot and killed. Gotti died
of cancer while serving a life sentence. None of these are very happy
endings.
If
you sit down and examine these gangsters, you'll find they were
famous in their own time. Escobar was very generous to the poor. Al
would kill for any reason and John was flamboyant. It's not like they
were using pseudonyms; everyone knew who they were and what they did.
What
kept them out of jail was lack of evidence and people too scared, or
too dead to testify. Authorities worked against the intimidation, and
all of them were eventually caught. I have to wonder how events would
have turned out, if the cops didn't know the face of the enemy.
Instead, the mobsters created notoriety, and they worked against
their interests doing so.
Who
knows about John Gotti's second in command? What about the third, or
fourth man down? A guy like that could be calling the shots now, and
if he's smart he's doing it from the shadows. All we should know about
is nicknames and rumors; everything else should be shrouded in
mystery.
Career
criminals don't ride in Lamborghinis. If you want to be in drugs
long-term, you drive a PT Cruiser and shop at WalMart. Any
position of power comes with sworn enemies. There's no need to let us
know that you're the puppeteer.
Of
course, that wasn't enough for Tony Montana. He wanted the world, and
he wanted the world to know it was his. If he liked anything he tried
to take it, and he would look into your eyes and dare you to stop
him. The man bought a tiger because he could do it, and he thought he
could sell and use at the same time.
Think
about why he dismissed Frank's advice; he didn't like the messenger,
but that wasn't all. Even more than that, he hated the message. It
was shooting down his dreams with a reality check.
If
you live to be the boss of all bosses, you'll be lucky to survive the
week. But if you can retire and evade police, congratulate yourself
on winning the lottery. I don't think there's a bigger jackpot
anywhere.
--------------
@ChannelSeals
See
"Scarface" on Netflix!
Next
Week: Bye Week - No post on 5/31
Monday,
June 6th: CMT - Escape to Witch Mountain (76% fresh and
laughably bad).
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