Lessons from "Sex"

I went to see "Sex in the City" last night with a friend and came away with a few thoughts - life lessons if you will. 1. Women, with all our touting of Independence from men, are still idiots when it comes to love. Of the four main characters in the movie, only one woman had figured out how to make a relationship work and guess what? She was the sweet, humble, grateful one. One was so self-centered she refused to believe she had anything to do with her marriage break up. Another one gave up a lot of herself to be with the man she loved....and that translated into a bad thing in this movie. The main character's relationship with her on-again off-again boyfriend of 10 years had me seething. I have a good friend who went through a relationship like that only to have it devastate her. I'm sure this movie for the vast majority of people ended just like they wanted it. For me it didn't. After being treated badly by this man, I would have rather seen the ending be her facing him and telling him that until he learns that a relationship is about two people - both of whom are willing to give of themselves and sacrifice for the marriage - he needs to live in a convent. It didn't end that way, but it should have. 2. $9.50 is way too much money to pay on soft-porn. Honestly, it's way too much money to spend on any movie, but for the life of me I'm not sure why this movie wasn't rated "X". I don't buy the old excuse that the sex scenes in a movie add to the story - total boloney. There was no point whatsoever in the graphic scenes they showed and it blew the movie for me. I don't care how close you are to the person sitting next to you, watching scenes like that make you uncomfortable. I'm sure for the 3 guys that were dragged to this movie it was well worth it. Maybe that's why they put it in. 3. Forgiveness is key to any relationship. Enough said. There was a running theme through the end of this movie that was wonderful - forgiveness. One of the main characters in the movie couldn't forgive her husband until she did something to someone else that she needed forgiveness for. One of the greatest lines in the movie is when this girl and the friend she was begging forgiveness from are sitting in a cab. The one who was wronged turned to the one who wronged her and said "you have refused to forgive your husband after six months of him saying I'm sorry and begging you to forgive him - yet here you sit after only 3 days of hurting me and telling me I have to forgive you." Her self-righteous attitude was called out and it was great. If I can remember how sinful I am and need forgiveness from Jesus (probably for even watching this movie and paying for it), then I can forgive others more easily. If I don't think I've done anything wrong - why would I need to forgive others who have wronged me? 4. Friends are the mirrors in our lives. I love this line. Friends and family are able to hold us accountable, teach us lessons, and force us to see ourselves in ways we never could alone. Sometimes it's hard, and sometimes our friendships don't survive the truths that are exposed, but most times our friends bring out the best in us. They see potential in us where we see faults; they see beauty where we see ugliness; they see life-lessons where we only see failure; they see what we can do, where we see what we can't. It's important to pick good friends that love you for who you are and want the best from you. It's also important that you can be yourself around these people and not be judged. This lesson alone was worth the price of the movie. If it weren't for the sex scenes I would highly recommend this movie. Maybe wait until it comes on TBS and they cut those out to see it. Then it would be worth it.