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Cuarenta y tres: Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?
In the spirit of this season that I’ve already told you I have lost a lot of love for, I made sure to sneak in the annual viewings of Miracle on 34th Street and It’s A Wonderful Life this year. I own them in black and white; colorizing the classics is surely not always a good thing.
The first time I ever laid eyes on It’s A Wonderful Life was in high school. We watched it in English class for three or four days and then wrote a paper on it. I have (predictably, I suppose), loved it (and Jimmy Stewart) ever since. Here is a guy who’s made sacrifices his whole life, put his dreams and goals on hold for years, and then he is faced with complete failure due to his uncle’s absent-mindedness and Potter’s selfish greed. It’s Christmas Eve, he’s contemplating suicide, and there goes Clarence, into the water, to save his life.
Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if you’d never been born? Stop and think about it. Who have you touched along the way? What chain of events could not have occurred had you not been a link in it? Don’t we all go through a period where we think we’re worthless, that we’re wasting our time here, that we haven’t made a difference? It’s kind of comforting to know that, while we may never have affected the people in our lives the way George Bailey affected those of Bedford Falls, our very existences have consequence on this globe we’re all spinning around on.
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I know for sure 3 children who would not be here! I know that Kris would have NEVER went to college and Sebastian wouldn’t have a mother figure around. I don’t think I’m the most important person in the world but I do believe I was put here for them!
Oh, and you! ; ) Who would ever remember what a stringy dork I was in middle school.