Sometimes you just hafta take what life gives ya, ’cause life is like a mop and sometimes life gets full of dirt and crud and bugs and hairballs and stuff… you, you, you gotta clean it out. You, you, you gotta put it in here and rinse it off and start all over again and, and sometimes, sometimes life sticks to the floor so bad you know a mop, a mop, it’s not good enough, it’s not good enough. You, you gotta get down there, like, with a toothbrush, you know, and you gotta, you gotta really scrub ’cause you gotta get it off. You gotta really try to get it off. But if that doesn’t work, that doesn’t work, you can’t give up. You gotta, you gotta stand right up. You, you gotta run to a window and say, “Hey! These floors are dirty as hell, and I’m not gonna take it any more!”

– Stanley Spadowski, UHF (1989)

Remember the good old days when Michael Richards was actually funny?  You know, before he had his little “meltdown” a few years ago?  I sure do.  Heck, I thought he was funny before Seinfeld came along.  While he might be known to millions as Kramer I will always remember him as the simple but heart-warmingly earnest Stanley Spadowski from the cult classic UHF.

You know, it’s kind of amusing.  I watched this movie again not too long ago after my boys went through a period of having it run on constant repeat in their DVD players and I was surprised at how inspiring this short segment of the movie really was.  I realize it’s a parody of the famous speech by Peter Finch in the 1976 classic Network, but while Howard Beale was urging his viewers to get mad about the state of the world, Stanley was motivating us not to give up when trying to change the circumstances in our lives.

If it’s been a while since you’ve watched this classic I urge you to take a look at it again.  Not just because Weird “Al” Yankovic put out a movie that was insanely funny, but because he put one out that was touchingly inspirational as well.   The characters in that movie were up against some pretty hefty odds trying to improve their lots in life, but they persevered and stayed true to themselves in the process, which is exactly the kind of thing each and every one of us struggles to do on a day to day basis on our health and fitness journeys.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go get in line for my chance to drink from THE FIRE HOSE.