Pep Talk: "Indiana Jones Always Tried!"

“Even the great Indiana Jones has his flaws!” bellowed a simple dude from Missouri.

I was talking with the guys at the Denver Rescue Mission during our regular Thursday morning team meeting. “Does everybody have their JOCK straps on?” cracked one of the guys who has been in the program for a bit and familiar with my style of encouragement.

Victory Productions offers JOCK wristbands to those who desire. The letters stand for J-oyful for blessings; O-ptimistic about the future; C-ourageous despite the past. If we can somehow, someway, despite the unexpected and unwanted stuff life throws our way, stay joyful, optimistic and courageous through it all? We can K-ick some butt!

That’s what the JOCK wristbands are all about. It doesn’t matter how old we are, what kind of shape we’re in, whether we’ve got an athletic bone in our bodies or not, there’s the potential for a JOCK inside of each and everyone of us. I’ll get off the soapbox and back to the story.

So the dudes trying to whip addiction and I are talking about how even the great Indiana Jones has his flaws. We do too. How do I know Indiana Jones has flaws?

I was an eyewitness.

It happened several years ago. The location: Malibu, California. An amazing young man who I’m proud to call son, Kyle, is a middle-school thespian. I’m visiting that beautiful spot on Earth for his school’s production of “Bugsy Malone.” Now working for NBC on the writing team for Late Night With Seth Myers, Kyle had the lead male role in the play.

Proud Pappa had just pulled into the school parking lot - a booming drive would land a golf ball in the Pacific Ocean from it - and was rummaging around in the rental car trunk looking for a camera to chronicle the event.

So while this knucklehead’s noggin is stuffed in the trunk and his hands rummaging in a suitcase, a very cool-looking car pulls into the adjacent parking spot. Luckily on my right, since I’m deaf in my left ear. I could hear clearly.

The car was a luxurious black Jaguar. Tinted windows. Awesome looking wheels. Impossible not to notice, despite most of my focus being on finding the damn camera.

The passengers are departing the classy vehicle. I can’t see them yet but can hear them talking. One voice sounds real familiar. A man’s voice. He had been driving. I’m still rummaging in trunk but by now, the man with the distinct and familiar voice has reached the back of his car, to my immediate right.

It’s actor Harrison Ford. Indiana Jones.

He’s with his now-wife Calista Flockhart and an older woman. I figure it was probably Harrison’s mom. Ford’s daughter is the same age as my son and was also in the play. Dad, stepmom and grandma are heading to the play, too.

I finally find the camera and trail the Ford trio, about ten feet behind, on the stroll toward the well-kept theatre that sits on the grounds of Malibu High. Suddenly, the former carpenter-turned-movie-icon stops dead in his tracks and mutters - I cleaned this up - “Shut the Front Door. I forgot the tickets!”

Sheepishly, one of the most successful actors in film history pivots on his heels and heads toward his cool-looking Jag. As Ford walks past me, I gave him a sympathetic look before offering, “Hey, Harrison.”

As I pass Flockhart and the woman I presumed to be grandma, I will never forget the look on those two ladies’ faces. While Indiana Jones, the man who always had it figured out when fighting the bad forces, retrieves the forgotten tickets, the women had a “That dude would forget his head if it wasn’t attached” kinda look. Yep.

Even Indiana Jones has flaws. He’s certainly not alone.

A short while later, just before entering the theatre to watch our kids’ show, the Chicago native caught up with his posse. We were in line. Our eyes met briefly. He kinda rolled his with a, “Hey, I’m a goof sometimes” look.

There is always room for improvement, right? The guys at the Denver Rescue Mission know that. Concerning our lives, we know it. Harrison Ford knows it. We can always become superior to our former selves. We are flawed.

But let’s not beat ourselves up too much for the flaws. Let’s strive to overcome them. The only true flaw would be not trying. This much we know: Indiana Jones always tried!