Determination: What Are You Made Of?

Recently I watched two movies that really inspired me. It is based on true story and inspiring enough to make me start writing a blog again after 5 years I didn't write any

What so powerful about those movies is the display of great determination by the main characters. The first movie I watched was Conviction (Hilary Swank) and the second one was Flash of Genius (Greg Kinnear).

In case you haven't watched those movies, I'm afraid you'll find a lot of spoilers here. Consider yourself warned If you're planning to watch it, please read this blog later so we can have more interesting discussion

For me, the ending of the story was quite predictable. Yeah, otherwise those stories wouldn't be made into movies, would it?

At the end, both Betty (Swank) and Dr. Kearns (Kinnear) succeeded to get what they were so determined to achieve.

For Betty, it was the exoneration of her convicted brother. After her brother served 18 years in prison, finally Betty could prove that he was innocent. As for Dr. Kearns, he finally won the trial that found Ford Motor Company guilty of stealing Kearns' windshield wiper design.

The similarity between Betty and Kearns was they both worked so hard for many years to get what they really wanted. Betty even put herself in law school and became a lawyer to represent her brother because appealing through public defenders was no longer an option. Kearns also studied law so he can represent himself in trial after his lawyer backed down following Ford's successful attempt to drag the pre-trial process as long as possible.

However, their determination didn't come without price; a price that I believe not many of us are willing to pay. Both had to sacrifice their marriages in pursue to what they believe was right. Their spouses advised them to let it go because they believed Betty and Kearns picked a fight they couldn't possibly win. Finally they left after realizing that Betty and Kearns were too consumed with their goals.

"Why didn't they give up?" was the question I constantly asked during the movie. For Kearns, the pressure to give up was even greater because he had 6 kids and at that time Ford had already offered a big settlement. Why didn't he just end the lawsuit, took the money and started a new more-than-comfortable life with his family? Was proving that Ford stole his idea more important than his family?

As for Betty, she had a great faith in her brother. She never asked whether he was guilty or not and not even for once she had a slightest doubt in her heart about her brother's innocence. She worked so hard to put herself in law school and worked even harder to graduate and pass the Bar Exam. Did she really have to go that far? Giving 18 years of her life was a huge sacrifice. What if she failed? Wouldn't it