“Good Will Hunting” Movie

 Learning from the Past and looking to the Future

 Antonius Siwi Dharma Jati, SJ

Good Will Hunting is a movie about a genius boy who has unusual behavior. The story of this movie is very similar to my story in the past.  Will Hunting is very intelligent and genius in Mathematics.  However, he just works as a janitor in the school. What I remember the most from this movie is Will’s way of speaking. Almost all words coming out from his mouth are sarcastic and vulgar, such as “Fuck, Shit, and Shut up your fucking mouth”. One of the interesting things from this movie is to find out what makes him very sarcastic. He becomes sarcastic, because he has some bad experiences in his past that can cause his attitude.

When I look at myself, I look like Will in attitude and the way of speaking. I oftentimes say some sarcastic words every time I do not like something that happens. This movie reminds me about my life in the past. I was not a good boy because of some causes. The main cause is about my relationship with my family. We were not close one another when I was a child. At that moment, I was like a child who had a lack of love and attention. That was why I became a stubborn boy. In this reflection, I would like to share my experiences that show my bad attitude.

When I was in the Junior High School, I was not interested to listen to my teachers when they were teaching us in a class. I even did not care about the lesson. What I thought was only how to get an A in the examination. Some say that to get an A, everyone should study hard and smart. However, I did not agree with that statement. I do not want to say that I am intelligent and smart, but in reality I never got a bad score in the examination. I always reached the first rank among my classmates, even though I was lazy to study or just to review the lesson. Thus, my teachers were confused, because I looked very lazy and stubborn, but always got the best score. I did the same when I was in the Seminary. I was very smart especially in Mathematics and Physics. I ever won the Science National Olympic. However, I disliked my teachers who were in charge in those lessons. I felt that they taught us too slowly. Their ways of teaching just made me bored, so I disliked them.

In the Novitiate, I was asked to reflect upon my life in the past that related to my life at present. I pondered it through my prayers and tried to find out the roots which made me stubborn.  Then, I realised what the roots of my attitudes were. When I lived with my family, I was not really close to them. They were very busy with their jobs and sometimes had no time to pay attention to me. That was why I preferred to do whatever I would like to do. I almost never asked their advices or suggestions. There was a time when I did not care of my family also. At that time, I would like to go outside and to play with my peers rather than to stay at home.  From those roots, I tried to reconcile my family and myself. Little by little, I can be better and now as a Jesuit, I am able to be soft and low profile. This movie reminds me that I am still a human being who has some weaknesses. However, it does not mean that I can say, “I do not care. This is my life.” Moreover, I need to be grateful and to be better day after day in behavior.