Her dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, held in place by a blue bow. Those big, brown eyes shimmered under the glow of the streetlights as she smiled. He couldn’t stop thinking about her since her first day at the office; she was perfect. This was the night he had been waiting for, a chance to get to know her during drinks and karaoke with their colleagues. No pressure.
As the night draws to an end, Tom and Summer help their drunk friend Mackenzie into a cab. As Mackenzie falls into the backseat of the cab, he perfectly, though a bit awkwardly, sets Tom up.
“He likes you. He like, likes you! Why don’t you just tell her, Tom?”
The cab pulls away, leaving Tom and Summer alone on the sidewalk in silence. Smiling again, she asks him if that was true. He pretends ignorance and forces her to be the one who shows any sign of courage.
“Do you…like me?”
Tom had been a noodle of a man for the entire movie thus far. I was growing impatient with him. I actually yelled at the computer screen, “Be a man, Tom!”
“Yeah, of course I like you.” Surprisingly, Tom is showing some gumption.
“As friends?”
And now comes the moment of decision. For an instant, a look of panic and fear washes across Tom’s face. To answer “yes” means to take a risk, “no” would be a retreat back to comfortable. What’s it gonna be, Tom?
“Yeah, as friends.”
Sensing the fear, she gives him another smile and another chance. “Just as friends?”
“Yeah, just as friends. I mean, I don’t know, I hadn’t really thought about it. Yes, just as friends.”
Tom, you blew it. I won’t say how the rest of the movie “500 days of Summer” goes, but I will say that Tom never does act like a man. Not with Summer, anyway. His defining moment with her came on the sidewalk and he backed down.
I actually kind of hated Tom for the rest of the movie. Well, hated is a strong word. I guess I resented him because I could see some of him in me, in my past, and in other guys that I know. I even had a flashback to the park bench couple that I wrote about a few weeks ago, wondering if they got to the barren wasteland that they’re currently in because the husband backed down during his sidewalk moments.
“Courage is your willingness to strap on your fear and move ahead.”
“Without courage we will simply accumulate a collection of good ideas and regrets.”
However, my favorite quote came from a story he told about a whitewater rafting trip with his sons. Apparently Stanley often preaches courage to his sons, forcing them to do things that they’re scared of. That’s right, I said forcing. There’s something for you fathers to think about. Anyway, they’re driving along the road next to the rapids and Stanley’s 9-year old son, with a look of complete and total fear on his face, turns to his father and says, “Dad, I know I’m not going to want to get in the raft when we get there. Just make me do it anyway.”
I think I read that quote about 5 times in a row. Then I prayed it. My example was dealing with love, but I’m not speaking specifically to that. I’m going to be more courageous in all things because a)I want to be, and b)I asked God to make me “do it anyway” and I know He’ll hold me to that.
You have to take chances in life. I don’t want to miss my sidewalk moments.
