Greatest romance novel ever...???

Among one of my favourite books ever is Gone With the Wind, hailed by some as the greatest romance novel.
 
But what drew me to it? Was it the the imagination of being swept off my feet by the charming Rhett Butler?
Not a chance... sure, you could call it romantic, but romantic stuff don't catch my fancy that easily. I'm more of a skeptic than ever. What actually caught my atention in the book was how it led my to wonder for days...'What if???' What if Scarlett knew how Rhett truly felt, or vice versa for that matter? What if everyone told each other about how much the other party truly meant to themselves, rather than bottling up their feelings, worried for the sake of pride? Would a lot of things really be different then?
A lot of times, I wonder... what if? It doesn't really make me one of those people who constantly clings on only to the past. I'm much more of a present kind of person...living for the moment. I just happen to believe that if we open our eyes more, we wouldn't be asking as many 'what ifs...'.
To me, people are generally good. Perhaps considered less so if they fail to broaden their perceptions, and fail to see what they could and should do to be nice. Mostly, when they see something nice they can do, they will do it but if they don't realise that it was something they could do to help, they just wouldn't. Hence, their actions may be considered selfish even if ignorance described them better.
 
The reason behind all this talk, was actually the shock behind how different our minds read the situation over the 'Adam incident', when I read Tink's recent entry. It made me wonder if I really was selfish, thinking only about how pitiful I was in the room, or was it ignorance, not even thinking about how Tink might have felt? I know my perceptions tend to be narrow at times. Advice about stepping in other people's shoes have often been given, but how often do we actually make an effort to do that? Is it natural for some people to constantly view situations in the eyes of others? Or is it something that takes tremendous, conscious effort? It's hard for me, because I only stop to think usually when it is too late to do anything. My mouth certainly reacts faster thaan my brains most of the time.
I'll just have to try harder I guess... hmm... I wonder, what if Adam had called us both in that day?
 
Mood : pensive