My friend Angelo grew up dyslexic, so though he’s really, really smart, he has a lot of gaps in his cultural knowledge. I lend him a lot of music and DVDs, and last night he watched the copy of “On The Waterfront” I gave him.
“I was just going to put it on and fall asleep,” he said. “But I couldn’t stop watching it.” He was talking about how the people in his waterfront neighborhood reminded him of the guys in the film, and how people are always willing to look the other way to let the bad guys win.
“It only takes one,” I told him. “Once people see somebody stand up, they’ll a lot more willing to do it, too.”
Oh, and he said he never knew this was the origin of the “I coulda been a contender” speech. Well, now he knows!
