I watched “Seven” for the first time in March of 2020. My dad put it on during dinner one night. It is the story of a police officer, played by Morgan Freeman, and his final case before he retires. However, his new transfer partner comes in, played by Brad Pitt, who is different than him. The two of them have to solve a murder mystery that involves the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. The killer, played by Kevin Spacey, is choosing his victims based on people he believes live by these sins. However, this is not the part of the movie that changed my life, it was a quote by Morgan Freeman.
There is a scene that I believe is arguably the most important four minutes of the entire movie. Morgan Freeman’s character and his partner’s wife sit down in a diner. She reveals to him that she is pregnant but she is not sure if she wants to go through with it or not. In this, we see vulnerability in Freeman’s character when he talks about how he was in a similar situation earlier in life where his girlfriend was pregnant but he told her he did not want to have it and they agreed. The thing he says next is the quote that changed my life at 14 years old. “I’m positive that I made the right decision. But there’s not a day that passes…that I don’t wish that I had made a different choice”.
I have never been in a situation like this with a pregnancy, but I have related to this quote with different choices I have made in my life. Whether it was a breakup or a new opportunity that I did not go after, sometimes at night when I cannot sleep I think about what could have been. I have realized this is my biggest toxic trait. I should just be able to move forward and never think about it again but I will never be one of those people who can just put situations like that to rest. I think in my head about what could have gone differently or where I would be now if I made or did not make that choice. Having Freeman say this in a movie validated how I feel. It also made me realize other people think the same as I do when it comes to regret.