The Art of Second chances

As I have recently started reading The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, I found myself thinking about the things from my past that I was willing to give a second chance.

When I first(and only time) saw the movie version of The Notebook, my reaction could not have been more negative. I cursed my friends who led me to believe this was, as they all put it, "the most romantic movie ever". That is exactly the opposite of how this movie made me feel. I felt betrayed by my friends, the makers and Nicholas Sparks himself for coming up with this story and masking it from what it truly was.

I was young.

While scouring my beloved site of Better World Books, I came across the book and wondered, "Maybe I was wrong to write something completely off like that."
And I realized this was a pattern of mine. Not only with books and movies but with friendships and relationships as well.
This got me thinking of things that I had actually given second chances.

What first comes to mind of course is something silly and trivial to life: Ben Affleck.
For some unknown reason I strongly did not like him. And truly I mean unknown. If you were to ask me I honestly did not have a legitimate answer for you. Perhaps some role I saw him in just rubbed me the wrong way, I honestly can not say. But I could not stand him. I went to see He is Just Not That Into You with one of my friends, and during the movie she said a comment referring to his character and how she loved him and I just blurted "Yeah, I really do not like Ben Affleck." After the movie she asked why, I believe her words were something along the lines of, "Who doesn't like attractive guys who are good actors?" And I didn't have an answer. I was just certain that I did not like him.
Fast forward to meeting Matthew, the first person to challenge me on my idiocy of the situation. He practically forced me to broaden my horizons (in the sweetest use of the word forced). He had me watch The Town, a movie both directed by and starring Affleck (imagine the eye roll of this Affleck-intolerant). Surprisingly however, I had to admit it wasn't really terrible. In fact he actually did a really good job as a director. I had to admit to myself that there wasn't a reason for me to go on disliking him, just because I once couldn't stand him. And, truly I am glad I did. Later that year Matthew took me to see Argo and to my delight it was the best movie I had seen that year.

The point of this seemingly pointless anecdote is that maybe when we have a strong distaste towards something perhaps we should think about giving it another chance. I mean I was a different person back in my Affleck hating days. Is it so hard to believe that perhaps my tastes would evolve along with my mind?

There are ties I have cut and things I have sworn off, but maybe it would be wise to go back and re-discover them. You never know when you will discover something much different from before.

A list of my to re-do's:

The Notebook
Jane Austen
FLCL (Interested Jess?)
TBD









5 comments:

Hahaha I totally wasn't expecting Ben Affleck of all people or things to be what your blog was somewhat about. I agree love. Just look how much your idea of "Wrestling" was before you met me and after you gave it a chance. It surprisingly became one of the things we loved doing and loved talking about. I love you so much


You are so right about wrestling. It still makes me laugh how into it I get sometimes.


YES! Completely interested :D

And I didn't know that about The Notebook or Ben Affleck! I can see why you'd be upset if you went into The Notebook expecting some perfect romance - I actually remember at one point disliking how a certain scene was handled (no spoilers :P) because it wasn't something I personally would have done, which is OBVIOUSLY how all female characters should act~ though I did like the movie overall, besides that one part where I yelled at the TV, because I watched it alone in my room :P


Haha I think the world would be way better if everyone behaved the way we did.


Also very curious to the part you are referring to, I'm sure it was one of the many I did not agree with. Will talk about it when you come over though I'm sure :D


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