Tyson

I watched the movie Tyson tonight. It is the story of Mike Tysons life through his eyes, and it gave me some interesting thoughts.

Tyson is the most notorious and controversial figures in this generation of boxers. He is probrably most well known for his biting of Evander Hollifields ear, his conviction for alledged rape, and the fact that he is the youngest ever heavyweight boxing champion of the world.

What astounds me is how talented Tyson was. When he was in his prime he had a superquick punch and loads of power. There was no one in his league. His success was built on the strength of the trainer who took him under his wing - Don  Amato. Don Amato was Tysons mentor and freind, and installed discipline in him after a difficult childhood.

Like many stars, Tysons professional life was dogged by his personal life. He reached heights quickly. He reached success quickly in the worlds eyes. But he struggled to develop integrity.

Intregrity is the heart of character, it takes discipline and hardwork learn to live a life of integrity. In my view integrity equals working towards wholeness. Its doing the right thing under the heart of pressure.

You can see as Tyson talks, that his view on reality is totally conflicted - one moment he is saying on thing about reality, the next he is saying something completely different. As one person I was talking to afterwards described him - he is completely manic in his nature.

The second point I want to get at, is that "religion" did not seem to play a successful role in him getting character. During his time in prison, Tyson converted to Islam, and he thought his life was on track because of his religiion. But it seems to have conflicted to the lifestyle he was living (he was permiscous, etc etc.)

I wonder how we live double sided lives. Does our character reflect integrity, or are we living out of conflicting realities and trying to keep many stories going.