The title of my post stands for "what would melanie do?" I am in no way saying we should ask this question as opposed WWJD, but this is just what has been on my mind as of late. Some of you may ask "Who is Melanie?" Well I provided a picture for everyone asking that question. She is a character in Gone with the Wind. And we could all learn so much from her. I watched this movie a little while ago, and this time, just like every other time that I've watched this movie I was so impressed with her. For those of you who aren't too familiar with the story- I'll do a quick recap. The story is set in the south right before, during, and right after the civil war. Scarlet O'Hara is the main character, and is a fiesty southern belle. She is madly in love with this man, Ashley Hamilton, who (gasp!) actually ends up marrying Melanie. Scarlet for the rest of the movie has bitter feelings towards Melanie and does many questionable things. No matter what kind of antics Scarlet comes up with, however, Melanie loves her dearly. She never has anything bad to say about Scarlet. In fact she doesn't seem to have anything bad to say about anyone. The part of the movie that I would like to focus on, however, is what has made me think WWMD? Scarlet is alone at night with Ashley and basically comes onto him. The next night is a party at the Hamilton's. Scarlet's husband Rhet forces her to go to this party because he thinks that Melanie deserves to be able to throw Scarlet out of her house for her inexcusable behavior. Upon arriving at the door, Rhet then leaves Scarlet to fend for herself. Scarlet, dressed in a red cocktail dress looks upon the party crowd, not knowing exactly what to do. Among the crowd is Melanie, the hostess. At this point she has a choice. She could throw Scarlet out and kick her to the curb. She could think "this harlot has been messing with my husband!!" I often find myself choosing this path in life. Somehow I feel like I deserve to treat others this way because I have been wronged. Revenge is ever so sweet, right? That's the whole problem though- it isn't. It makes you feel better at the moment, but it always ends up biting you in the butt and ultimately just making you unhappy. Melanie must have known this because how she handles the situation is how I want to be one day- hopefully soon. She warmly welcomes Scarlet into her home and selflessly includes her in all the night's activities. For the remainder of the movie Melanie continues to selflessly love Scarlet. Some people might think that she is just oblivious to Scarlet's selfish, petty behavior, which is why Melanie is able to love her so unconditionally. I must admit that at first I felt this same way. But Melanie is a smart woman. I know she must have been very aware of Scarlet's true motives and schemes. And yet somehow she was able to look past it all and love her unconditionally. How? That remains a mystery to me, unfortunately.
Sometimes I feel that it's just a personality thing. I think "Well its just easier for people like Melanie to be like that because they are naturally that way, and I'm not." But is that even true? Why does it have to be harder for me to unconditionally love everyone? Or is it even in fact harder? Maybe I just don't try as hard to overcome this weakness as Melanie does. I often fall into the trap of playing the victim. I feel bitter towards others because I feel that they have wronged me and therefore deserve for me to be cold to them. They were mean to me, dang it! But as I sit and ponder on Melanie's actions, I realize that no one deserves that. Everyone has their struggles, just like I do. And no one is perfect, however unfortunate that may be. That is why I need to ask myself WWMD more often. When faced with awkward situations I need to do what she would do. Warmly accept all around me, which will only lead to me being happy, so why not do it? There have been many a Scarlet in my life up to this point, and there will probably be many more. So I am faced with a choice. I can choose to bitterly cut them out of my life and hate them for all eternity (because they deserve it, right?!) or realize that such bitterness will only end up hurting me in the end. Which is why I need to choose to be warm and accepting of everyone unconditionally. It will be hard, but when face with these situations where I have the choice to act one way or the other, I hope I can remember to ask myself "What would Melanie do??"
