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Olympic motivational speaker Ruben Gonzalez

Sonny Corleone – From the movie “The Godfather”

One of the key scenes in the movie “The Godfather” is when hotheaded, Sonny Corleone, recklessly shows his enemies that his family is not united when it comes to entering the drug business.

If you haven’t seen “The Godfather” in a while, let me bring you up to speed…

“The Godfather” is the story of the Corleone Family. One of several Mafia families in New York. Vito Corleone, also known as Don Corleone, is played by Marlon Brando. Don Corleone is the patriarch of the Corleone Family. Vito has four sons. Sonny, played by James Caan is the oldest and the most violent and reckless of the four… qualities that ultimately lead to his death.

The Corleone Family is approached by one of the other crime Families with an offer to enter the drug business. Don Corleone does not want to enter the drug business because he believes it would spoil the youth.

Sonny, however, breaks into the negotiations and speaks up showing an interest in entering the drug business. When Sonny speaks up, you can feel the tension in the room escalate. Because all of a sudden, the Don’s enemies know that there is weakness in the Corleone Family. There is dissention. And so they come to believe that if The Godfather could be taken out of the picture, Sonny may agree to get into the drug business.

This leads to an assassination attempt on The Godfather. The assassination attempt fails but the Godfather is left near death.

Sonny was way out of line. He should have kept his views to himself during the meeting and discussed his differences with Don Corleone in private. Don Corleone chastises Sonny for being so reckless.

That was family business. It was private. Whether it is on the home front, in the corporate front, or in the war front, you discuss your differences in private, come to an agreement in private, then formulate a plan and execute the plan without breaking ranks.

Why? Because that’s how winning teams operate. Winning teams don’t show their weaknesses to their adversaries. It’s absolutely foolish to do so. When you show your weaknesses to the enemy, you set yourself up for defeat.

That’s why it makes me so mad that the media and the left are constantly undermining America’s fight against terrorism. Every time they do, they show the terrorists that we are not united. That only fuels the terrorists’ hope that they can win the war. Every time the media and the left do this, every time they make fun of the current administration, they are hurting our soldiers and are endangering them. It’s stupid and it’s un-American. There are smarter ways to gain political points. They don’t have to do it in a way that endangers our soldiers and our future.

The media and the left rationalize their behavior by bringing up “freedom of the press.” Hey, this is America, I believe in freedom of the press. But with freedom comes responsibility. And both the media and the left are abusing their freedom of the press when they use it in a way that endangers our soldiers.

If you don’t agree, simply ask any of the soldiers how it makes them feel. Better yet, ask a WWII veteran what they think about this. Our soldiers are putting their lives on the line for freedom and they deserve 100% of our support whether we agree with the war or not.

 

Olympic Motivational Speaker Ruben Gonzalez