04-30-2015, 02:53 AM
I just finished watching a couple of episodes of this show, and am fascinated by how it's told.
Without getting into spoilers, it's about how we can assume the worst about someone (because of their past history), and automatically inpute negative intentions on their motivations, in the absence of any other information. The show deliberately points the narrative that way - that a lack of forgiveness means holding onto past grudges.
On some level, I can appreciate the wisdom in being able to see someone's history, and say that they are likely to repeat bad mistakes. Especially if we've given them multiple chances in the past, and they continue to fail to match up to their talk of changed behaviour.
And yet, there might come a time when they are genuinely ready to change, and it's totally sincere, and they're totally ready to commit to change, and in the face of discouragement and suspicion from family members and others, they fall back into old patterns. Of course, there's a certain responsibility in being able to make change for oneself, and being able to stick to it. But for someone who has had a past history of errors, and doubts themselves to the core, the lack of support from others who might be in a position to help is enough to dampen a candle of dim light.
I witnessed a similiar theme playing out in Once Upon a Time, late in season 2.
of course, at some level, this is putting a certain guilt factor on these who have given the same person many many chances to reform in the past.
But what if this next chance, they want to change, but are mocked to their face, and lose heart?
Again, I want to emphasise that it is a rather artificial scenario being painted, and one that is deliberately slanted to drive home a point. We can't really know *how* we would make a decision unless we are living the circumstances ourselves. And so it would be appropriate catalyst if it came up in one's own life. However, for a bystander, it's an interesting scenario to consider. And raises potential questions on when we might have given up on someone maybe one moment too early
Without getting into spoilers, it's about how we can assume the worst about someone (because of their past history), and automatically inpute negative intentions on their motivations, in the absence of any other information. The show deliberately points the narrative that way - that a lack of forgiveness means holding onto past grudges.
On some level, I can appreciate the wisdom in being able to see someone's history, and say that they are likely to repeat bad mistakes. Especially if we've given them multiple chances in the past, and they continue to fail to match up to their talk of changed behaviour.
And yet, there might come a time when they are genuinely ready to change, and it's totally sincere, and they're totally ready to commit to change, and in the face of discouragement and suspicion from family members and others, they fall back into old patterns. Of course, there's a certain responsibility in being able to make change for oneself, and being able to stick to it. But for someone who has had a past history of errors, and doubts themselves to the core, the lack of support from others who might be in a position to help is enough to dampen a candle of dim light.
I witnessed a similiar theme playing out in Once Upon a Time, late in season 2.
of course, at some level, this is putting a certain guilt factor on these who have given the same person many many chances to reform in the past.
But what if this next chance, they want to change, but are mocked to their face, and lose heart?
Again, I want to emphasise that it is a rather artificial scenario being painted, and one that is deliberately slanted to drive home a point. We can't really know *how* we would make a decision unless we are living the circumstances ourselves. And so it would be appropriate catalyst if it came up in one's own life. However, for a bystander, it's an interesting scenario to consider. And raises potential questions on when we might have given up on someone maybe one moment too early