Use It All

August 31, 2026

“Use it!” Blade

 Dedicated to The Comeback Kid…

 

Sometimes we want very specific motivations and very specific resources to get to the destination that we need to get to…and sometimes it's not what we are going to get. In the movie Blade: Trinity (2004) their job is to take out Dracula (permanently). And for a good chunk of the movie, they struggled to let the uncertainty and worst-case scenario stop them from completing the mission. Eventually when one of the good guys thought they lost all hope. Blade, the vampire killer, tells his teammate to use all the pain, all the doubt, and all the fear as fuel to refocus and re-motivate…even when the odds are against you. This is the backstory of an underdog.

Now Blade: Trinity (2004) is fictional…lemme give you a true story. In the 1990’s there was a movie that came out called Rudy. Rudy was based on the real-life story of Rudy Ruettiger. The movie was an idea that took nearly 20 years to become reality. Why did it take so long?! Maybe because the whole story seemed fake. A 25-year-old Navy veteran with dyslexia got into Notre Dame?! And then he got on the field as a 5’6” defender on the football team?! And he tackled the quarterback in a real game?! Seems unreal, right?!

It might seem unreal, but it's all true! Rudy Ruettiger had a learning difference. He was 5’6” ...He was 165 pounds. (That's tiny for that position!) Parts of the crowd were screaming his name! He did tackle the quarterback at the end of the game, and he was carried off the field. For everything good that we remember about Rudy, there were so many things that were working against him. Rudy was a true underdog. He found a way even when people said he couldn't. He used everything thrown against him as food to fuel his success. For those who are not underdogs, it is easy to not see what Rudy and other underdogs have achieved as not a big deal. Maybe a thought is that the underdogs achievements didn’t change the world. But, if any of the achievements changed the reality for an underdog, those acts are worthy of being celebrated.

Underdog stories are great until we are the Underdog!

I had a chance to witness the underdog first-hand recently. I gave the underdog the nickname of The Comeback Kid. The Comeback Kid had every reason to stop trying. She had every reason not to believe in the possibilities. And somehow, she trusted the process to make changes…she embraced the idea of resilience. She was often told by me, “You know what we can do?! We can do hard things! We can do hard things when we have low energy…we can do hard things when we have an aching heart… we can do hard things, and we feel like no one believes in us.” Over time, The Come Back Kid found a way to use it all. And I'm so grateful I was there when what she thought was impossible became possible.

Underdog stories are great until we are the Underdog

The great underdogs had to take on all the haters…they had to take on all the setbacks…as underdogs, people have to navigate around every person who failed them…every person who said they couldn't…all the pain that comes with all that negativity needs to be used. Underdogs gotta use it all…every single bit of it! Pain is always going to be there…negativity is always gonna try to drown you. Are you willing to channel it all into something useful or are you going to allow it to chain you down to a life of wish-I-could-have? Don't be that person! Find a way to channel it all…Turn that pain and negativity into power! Use the power into action…use that action to change your world! That's the charge! You ready?! Just know, I believe in you! Lean in!

 

Elgrie J. Hurd
- A Member of the Underdogs