My favorite kinds of movies are the ones that leave you thinking, and make you feel something. Even hours after you’ve seen it you are still pondering about it and figuring out the meaning. That happened to me recently, one night I was just browsing Netflix looking for something to watch and I came across a movie I had never heard of called Pleasantville. It was made in 1998 starring Toby Maguire and Reese Witherspoon, and I noticed that it had been nominated for 3 Oscars. So I was like what the heck I’ll just see if I like it, what I didn’t know is that I would be so moved after watching it, and that it would become one of my favorite movies. It was so good because it wasn’t like you were emotional just about other people, but it related to you and everyone around you.

All right many of you are wondering what the heck I’m talking about because not all of you have seen this movie, so here is the gist of it. A brother and a sister get transported into a black and white 50’s sitcom called Pleasantville where life is perfect and it’s sunny skies every day. Things soon begin to change when rules are broken and things start to become more colorful, literally. Even if you haven’t seen this movie (go watch it after you read this) what I am about to say won’t ruin it, it might even make your experience of watching it better.

This movie reminded me that life isn’t perfect, it isn’t supposed to be polished and shiny like the sitcom families. We are human, we are supposed to feel, experience new things, and live our own lives. We have to go outside our comfort zone every once in a while, make mistakes, learn new things, travel, fall in love, get our hearts broken, because all of that is what makes us human. We are human because we have choices, we get to make our own decisions, blaze our own trails, and be individuals. There are so many things that make life really good, and there are a lot of things that make life hard, but they balance each other. To explain that better here is a metaphor for you: without the high tides, seashells wouldn’t wash up on shore, and without the low tides, we wouldn’t be able to find them. What we are supposed to do as humans on this earth is make the best of the short time we have here, so open yourself up, let love in, go places, meet new people, do things that are good for your soul. Don’t wait for life to just happen to you, go out and MAKE it happen.