In the Oscar winning film ‘As Good as it Gets’ Jack Nicholson plays the part of Melvin, a racist homophobe with OCD. A reclusive author he dislikes everyone he meets and just wants to be left alone. At one point in the movie, he goes to see his therapist and, entering the waiting room, views the assembled patients and asks, ‘What if this is as good as it gets?’

It’s a great question and I’m guessing that most of us have had moments when we’ve asked it. Maybe a job didn’t work out as expected or a relationship failed. Perhaps a trusted friend let us down. I’m sure most of us have asked it while watching the news. Our hearts sink and we just long that things could be different. But how?

In the film the only person who will tolerate Melvin’s obnoxious behaviour is Carol, the waitress at the restaurant where he has breakfast every day. Slowly and tortuously a relationship between them begins to grow. At dinner one evening Carol asks Melvin to pay her a compliment. He struggles with the very concept but eventually comes out with the most beautiful line: ‘Being with you makes me want to be a better person’. Melvin’s relationship with Carol and the way she has accepted him, inspires him to want to change because he realises the that the life he’s been living is less than it might have been.