The Christmas season is fast approaching and with that time comes the holiday specials on TV.
Ever since I was a young boy, some of my nicest memories of winter have consisted of my family together on the couch, watching Rudolph, Frosty and Charlie Brown as they explored the meaning of the season and figured out their place in the world. My personal favorite, however, features no stop-motion characters, but the message continues to resonate in my day-to-day life.
The film in question is Frank Capra’s 1946 magnum opus, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring James Stewart as George Bailey.
In the movie, we see the struggles of Bailey’s life when he sacrifices his health, opportunities and youth to help his brother and everyone else in the small town of Bedford Falls.
In fact, he gives up opportunities for his own happiness again and again with deliberation for the good of his community.
Years pass by and George Bailey is rewarded with his marriage to Mary Hatch, the love of his life, along with four children. He lives, however, a mediocre existence from an outside glance. We see a man with all the potential in the world settle for the mundane as his brother goes to college in his place and even becomes a war hero.
To make matters worse, Bailey finds himself in trouble when the money his bank was holding goes missing and he finds himself at the hands of Mr. Henry Potter, a heartless loan shark whom Bailey has saved Bedford Falls repeatedly from.
When Potter threatens to turn Bailey into the police, he prepares to throw himself off a bridge when the angel, Clarence, arrives.
Bailey is shown by Clarence what Bedford Falls would look like had he never been born. His brother, the great man who seemingly robbed Bailey of his potential, would have died as a small boy after falling through the ice in a frozen pond. It was George who had saved his life, sacrificing his hearing to do so. And as for Bedford Falls, the town became Pottersville, a den of sin, poverty and crime.
Those lives that he’d made so fulfilling and joyful were miserable and untrusting. Without Bailey around, no one had the courage or the integrity to stand up to Henry Potter.
Horrified at the world he was witnessing, Bailey repents his anger at life and joyfully returns to the way things should be; he returns to Bedford Falls.
Hearing of his legal and financial troubles, the grateful people of their town, as well as his brother, provide George Bailey with the money needed to save him from prison. They thank George and praise him, calling him the “richest man in Bedford Falls.”
In that line is the lesson of the film. George Bailey, not Potter, is the richest man in town. The riches he has come not from the financial success he has found in life, but the success he gave up for the town and his family.
His wealth comes from his friends mother, his brother, his uncle and especially, from his wife and children.
Likewise, in this season of self-reflection, we should ask ourselves how we fit into our own community. How do we contribute and help our neighbors? What sacrifices do we make? How do we make the world better? And when these questions arise and we look for an example, we need look no further than George Bailey.
Merry Christmas.
