Decision Making

My Boyfriend and I saw an excellent movie the other night. But I'm not recommending it to you because it's raw and you might be offended. It takes place in Boston's underbelly but could be about any large segment of people who live in all of our big cities. People we don't want to hang out with or even think much about.

The movie's called "Gone, Baby, Gone." A frivolous sounding title but the movie is anything but frivolous. It's about making decisions and then having to live with them.

It was directed and (screenplay) written by Ben Afleck who, in my eyes, has totally redeemed himself professionally with this movie.

Every adult character has to live with the decisions they've made. Were they "right" or "wrong?" Who knows.

A friend of mine called the other day, totally freaked out because her young teenage son had done something really stupid and they were scrambling to "fix" the situation.

For as long as I've known this couple they've been conservative Christian parents who's main parenting goal is to have their children "mind." The children must have respect for authority at all times.

My main parenting goal was to produce "decision making" adults. Learning to make decisions and then to live with that responsibility is a lot harder than doing what you're told.

Sometimes authority needs to be challenged but you need to pick your battles and accept the consequences.

My friend said, "I don't want them to make decisions, I want them to do what's right."

Some of the time I don't know what's right. I wish the world was black and white but I constantly find myself in some grey areas.

To me the movie, "Gone, Baby, Gone" is not so much about a kidnapped child as it is about adults making choices. Some clearly wrong, but others, I'm not sure.