Two sides?

Do you ever think about the other side to the story? The fact that, no matter how adamant you are about something, there is always another side to it?

Today I went to go see The Reader. It was an interesting movie... it was hard to sit through, not just for the awkward and very revealing sexual scenes, but also for the way you felt about a certain situation in the movie. I hope that if anyone reading this plans on seeing the movie nothing gets spoiled. Maybe just stop reading if that is the case!

It was about a woman in her 30s who had an affair with a 15 or 16 year old boy. It was a very interesting relationship, disgusting but very loving at times... I don't even know, there are no words for how I was feeling about it. This woman worked for Hitler before this affair took place, but you don't know this until later. Long story short, she was a guard at Auschwitz during the war. Years later she was among a group that was put on trial.

Now I don't want to sound like a Nazi or anything, and I hope no one takes this in the wrong way because I am in NO way agreeing with what happened in those camps or to the victims...

The movie was very good at making you think about and realize that there are always two sides to consider. While this woman was on trial she was being asked a lot of questions about why she did this that or the other. She seams to have a screw or two loose (after all, she was sleeping with a child), like she maybe doesn't understand what is going on or what she is saying. But as she is asked specific questions about her job as a guard, she gives answers like she is saying "Well, duh!"

She says how that is just what they did, no questions asked. She even asks the man who is questioning her, "Well, what would you do?" She basically did what she was told, she didn't ask questions, she just did what she had to do. She applied for the job, got it, did the work, and it resulted in her getting tried many years later. Although she may have done horrible things, she was not necesarily a horrible person. And seeing her get life in prison was heartbreaking. Even though she was partly responsible for many many peoples deaths, she was still a person who, once understood, you realize is not someone you want to put in jail. You kind of want to hug her and help her...

Moral of this thought process, there are two sides to everything. I think often times about why I don't want to see the other side. Basically, I like my side and I am sticking to it! ...not a good mentality to have all the time, but that is how we are. I want to start thinking about the other side, I don't want to be stuck in my ways and unable to understand people. There are some issues with which I will not budge, no matter how controvercial they may be. But there are also some issues with which I will not budge because I am selfish... I want to work on this and realize that I am not always right and there are people with ideas about things thay may not be my ideas, but that doesn't make them wrong. Easier said than done, but I will work on it!