Could good girls really ever turn that bad?

Desperate times calling for desperate measures.

What point do you think you’d have to reach to make a really crappy life decision in order to save yourself or a loved one? How extenuating would your circumstances have to be before you’d consider potentially ruining your life, in order to try and make it better?

If you’ve ever come to the point of asking yourself those questions, did you come up with any answers?

I first started watching the Netflix series, Good Girls, because the trailer lightened it up to the point that it looked like a full on comedy. But after making my way through several episodes I found that although pieces of it are hilarious, it depicts some heavy life situations we could all find ourselves having to deal with.

A single mom, trying her hardest to make ends meet and provide for her child. That’s real.

A stay at home wife and mother finds out her husband is cheating, but doesn’t have the financial means to leave him. Also very real.

The mother of a child who needs a life-saving surgery, but can’t afford what it will cost to save her child. Possibly the grittiest of all these scenarios.

None of these situations are far fetched. In fact, they’re all VERY real in the lives of millions, I’m sure. There’s so much struggle hidden behind the smiling, trying faces of average people.

If any of those struggles were yours, what would you be willing to do in order to save yourself or your children?

The three average, suburban “Good Girl” moms in those exact situations, orchestrated a robbery in order to come up with the money to save their families. They do it because they don’t see any other way out.

How and why should a money heist even be a consideration, in order to save a family?

Before Good Girls, there was John Q — the 2002 movie starring Denzel Washington — about a dad whose son needs a life saving transplant, except his medical insurance won’t cover it. He makes the decision to hold a hospital emergency room hostage in an attempt to save his child’s life.

These average people are citizens of a first world, wealthy country where opportunity is supposed to exist — the good, old USA. At the very least, they shouldn’t have to worry about where their next meals are coming from, or whether their child will survive another day.

None of this should exist in any first, second, or third world country.

Obviously, I’ve never committed a bank heist, but I’ve certainly fantasized about it. Who hasn’t?

I’ve walked into my bank and taken a good look around to see how easy or hard it might be, but I would never follow through to the point of actually plotting it out because, what if I got caught?

I’m such a goody two-shoes that I even remove my sunglasses while walking into a bank, just like the signs on the bank doors tell me to.

In reality, the reasons I would have wanted to rob a bank in the first place, are the same reasons I never would have — I’m a mother. I had a child to think about. What would have happened to him if I’d attempted and got caught?

I can’t imagine the point a person needs to reach in order to try and pull it off, but sadly, many do reach that point.

The most illicit stunt I ever pulled in a time of desperation was as a young, single mom. This was way back in the days when we could still write checks as currency in a grocery store.

I had no money but I needed food, diapers, formula, and everything else a little family needs to get by and still be able to pay the rent. So I went to the grocery store and stocked the hell up, which was something I was never able to do in those days.

Then….I intentionally wrote a bad check, just to fill my cupboards full for once. In that moment, I had everything I needed for myself and my son. And it felt damn good.

At the time, I didn’t care about the aftermath. Eventually the bank would just call me and I’d have to pay the NSF fee and make up for the money.

But I never would have written the check if I knew there would be legal ramifications. I just knew I’d have to pay the money back at some point. My safety net was knowing I couldn’t go down for an actual crime.

The plight of the everyday, average human these days can feel so heavy. We want to be honest, hard working citizens but what’s the reward? It should never be a situation of, “Sorry, we can’t save your child’s life today because you can’t pay us.”

Wanting better for ourselves and our families needs to be something that’s within reach. Working harder and getting ahead needs to be tangible, we want to be able to see the payoff.

Until we reach a solution to the hamster wheel of life, maybe Hollywood needs to stop showing us how easy it is for the average citizen to snap. We already know the struggle, we live it.

But also, maybe Hollywood is trying to show us the consequences of said snapping. None of the characters ever come out unscathed, but we can if we make the right choices and stay on the wheel.

I came out of my bounced check writing days on the positive side, and I sure didn’t need a gun and a mask to do it.

It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.

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