Thanksgiving is just two weeks ago and we stand on the precipice of what is commonly known as the holiday season, replete with all the cultural contributions and contrivances. One of the better ones which emanated post WWII is the well-loved movie, "It's a Wonderful Life." To recap, it is the story of George Bailey, a man with dreams of travel and adventure who, step by step, puts his dreams on hold for the sake of others. Instead of “shaking the dust of this crummy old' town” (Bedford Falls), he marries Mary (“the kind who will help you find the answers”),settles down to raise a family and help keep the Building Saving and Loan afloat and out of the hands of wicked and ruthless Mr. Potter. He falls upon misfortune and he comes to the end of his rope, contemplates suicide and wishes he was never born. An angel-in-training is sent to help George understand just how vitally important his life was and how drastically different the lives around would have turned out without him.
Yes, it is the stuff of great movie. Interestingly, the movie was not a box office success nor critically acclaimed. Director Frank Capra has stated that he made this movie for the downtrodden of life....for those who felt overlooked and worthless....the unseen, unwanted and forgotten.
George Bailey is given a blessing beyond blessings...to see what life would be like without him. Have you ever considered what life would be like without you? I know I have had moments when I would just “die”. At these moments, I really don’t want to die, I just don’t want to face whatever challenge or failure that is in front of me. But what George asks for is something altogether different. If you try to think about it, I think you will find that it isn't something we can really imagine for ourselves, at least not in its fullest sense. Like George, our vision is myopic. We see only from one perspective and whether we are in trouble or experiencing success, we really cannot fully know it unless we share it with others. In fact, it is through the lives of others that George sees just why he was here and how all those choices he made impacted those around him and ultimately the future of Bedford Falls.
The interesting wish that George makes is that he wishes he was never born. Never born. Here in the United States, over 60 million people have "never been born" since 1973. And the ending of these lives goes on largely unseen, done in clinics with the words "women's health" hung in the window. These 60 million+ are unwanted by their mothers or fathers. They have no names, no burial plots, no death certificates. How could they? They are the never born! They are therefore forgotten. Unseen, unwanted, unknown, forgotten, people. Hmmm, where have I heard these words before?
We cannot know with the great detail as was granted to George Bailey what impact these never born people would have had on society through their individual lives. Yet, we can know how their never-born status has had on the lives around them and at large. The voices of "Silent No More" will again be heard on the steps of outside of the Supreme Court this coming January, after the March for Life. These are the cries of women and men - mothers and fathers - who have suffered profoundly from abortion. The memory of their actions haunts them day after day. You cannot forget your abortion, the blood on your hands. Science tells us that after an abortion, fetal cells travel throughout the mother's bloodstream. (Lifesite.com).
George Bailey’s dreams of travel to distant lands and making millions of dollars are never realized. He chooses to remain, to assist, to give up, to attend, to work. He sees his father’s battles with Potter from the time he was a boy and he carried it with him. He saw the people of the town and felt the stories of their lives and wanted very much to help them realize their dreams, albeit much smaller than George’s! In doing so, George lived and felt very deeply the humanity around him, and he lays down his life (sometimes begrudgingly) to provide hope. George lets go of his fantasies and dreams of “more” and he lives a life that is far more alive than he can imagine. Painfully alive. This is why it is such a wonderful life – not that it is all hearts and flowers and sunshine; not that there is wealth; heck, not even that we have friends; but that we human beings have the capacity and fullness of being through our Heavenly Father that we can both receive and give love; inasmuch as we do so, we become more and more like our Heavenly Father, we become more alive. Painfully alive.
So many people believe that having a baby will “ruin” their lives: their dreams will be lost, their beautiful bodies marred, career goals put on hold, less money. They believe that by not having another child, they will be happy, they will have…. Our culture tells us this constantly. We must have, we must achieve our goals, must be successful. We are constantly looking to go over the rainbow. Yet, even Dorothy finds that her happiness is right in front of her and as the result of her wanderings and myopia, she nearly loses those around her and is herself nearly killed. Stop and think about your life. What has made moments in it so memorable, worthwhile, heck even wonderful? Guaranteed these moments involved someone you loved; moments in which you forgot about yourself and your dreams and demonstrated true love – compassion (to suffer with) – towards another. These are the moments in which we are truly living, we are most alive, we are fully human. Consider the words of our Savior, Jesus Christ, “He who seeks his life will lose it; he loses his life for my sake, will find it.” “I came that they might have life and have it in abundance.”
The ultimate tragedy of abortion, I believe, is the lie it keeps on telling women, men, society at large. The lie that if I “terminate this ball of tissue,” I will be happy. I will find fulfillment. I will be ok and no one will be hurt by it. It perpetuates a state of disillusionment and detaches us from the reality of what it means to be a human being. To be human is to love (for we are made by Love in Love to Love for Love) and to love, as our Lord Jesus Christ, shows us, is to lay down one’s life for others. Anything else is contrary to love, contrary to what it means to be human.
And so our friend, George Bailey, sees what his life is all about – love of others – and he is saved and all because of a bumbling angel-in-training, Clarence, who cares enough to take a risk and dive in (literally). He isn’t quite sure how or what he is going to do, but he listens to George, stays with him and step by step leads him to the Truth.
We pray for all those who have suffered as a result of abortion, directly or indirectly. In and through Jesus, there is forgiveness, hope and healing. May there be more Clarences, who, though stumbling and bumbling, have the purity of heart to help shine light on the darkness that is “pro-choice.” And for those little discarded ones, our Lord’s promise: “If even a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you.”
PS: Frank Capra got it wrong at the end of this most wonderful movie. The message from Clarence should have read, "No man is a failure who lays down his life for the sake of others."
1 comment:
I had seen that movie but did not see it as clearly. I will have to see it again with new eyes. Beautifully written. Thank you
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