Today's Underdogs

Early in the movie Seabiscuit, trainer Tom Smith rescues an injured racehorse that is about to be put down, explaining "You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a little." There's something deeply touching and profound in that statement. It reflects a reverence for all life - for humans and all the other creatures that fly, walk, crawl, and swim. Indeed, that spirit of compassion is one of the central themes of the movie and of the larger mythology about America that informs it.

Americans have long believed that their country is one that takes care of those who are in desperate straits or on the mend, both at home and abroad. Throughout Seabiscuit, the narrator, historian David McCullough, reinforces this impression as he walks us through watershed moments beginning with Henry Ford's creation of the Model T automobile, which due to assembly line production made faster transportation affordable to many people; through the Depression with its catastrophic consequences of financial loss and unemployment that wounded every class of society; to the Roosevelt Administration's New Deal programs to help the unemployed.

The lesson of this historical arc? In America, everybody has a chance to succeed. The response to bad times is to pull together and give the down-and-out a helping hand. Those are on the bottom are to be lifted up.

That was then. This is now. Seabiscuit speaks so loudly to our hearts with its celebration that underdogs can win back their dignity and have their day in the sun because it reflects an American Dream that is no more.

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