Silvester: IT IS YOUR WONDERFUL LIFE!
Ein kleiner Artikel aus der Coachvillezeit, der zur Jahreszeit passt:
IT IS YOUR WONDERFUL LIFE!
This Christmas, like so many Christmases before, I watched “It’s a wonderful life“ with James Stewart. And of course it made me cry – like all the years before.
After the film, I thought to myself, “Well, George Bailey is a well-known person in his little town. With his job, lending money to people so they can build their homes, he certainly has an impact on people’s lives. But me . . . “
Then my mind wandered to a day more than 25 years ago. I was still in school and had to write a paper on educational science, part of the assignment was to describe a cartoon. I have never forgotten those few roughly drawn pictures. There was a man who was badly treated by his boss. He went home and was angry with his wife. She then scolded their children about something minor. Finally the son mistreated the dog. I remember writing about how society and education have an influence on the behaviour of children.
What fascinates me to this day is this chain-reaction. In the end the dog had a problem because the father had a bad day at the office.
Now what about turning this around?
- a boss who inspires and motivates his employees
- the woman who thanks the overworked cashier and with this conjures a smile on his face
- the man who unexpectedly compliments a woman and makes her feel like a woman again for the first time after a break-up
What might be the outcome of these little incidents?
This brings me back to the film. We can make the difference in our daily lives. Not always in dramatic episodes - like saving somebody from drowning, or helping people to build a home. More often it is with the smaller deeds - like giving a smile, acknowledging someone, lending a helping hand. With these gestures, I can make someone’s day, and sometimes even save – perhaps not a life – but a heart.
Or maybe it’s really more like what Clarence, George Bailey’s guardian angel, says in the film: “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
I wish you to have a Wonderful New Year, touching innumerable lives and being touched and blessed in return.
© Marion Froese
Coachville Fully Alive Community Newsletter 30.12.2005