Today's Wonderful Life

Did anyone catch the "It's a Wonderful Life" broadcast?

While watching last year for what could have been the 83rd time, I was mesmerized anew by the honest emotional conflicts the film captures. The tortured self-examination of a man on the brink of suicide is to this day so laceratingly real and mature, yet exists in this Americana snow globe, shaken only at the holidays.

What a piece of film making!

And what an odd tale to have burrowed its way into the seasonal American fabric, just consider;
A) George Bailey is good, but not always nice
B) There are no song and dance numbers- this is certainly no "White Christmas," and
C)The telephone scene between Mary and George- hot!

But those observations are 'so last year'.

This year the classic enlightens me again, but this time it's all about Potter- who, in today's economy, should be the man of the hour. A sour puss- yes, a kill joy- most certainly, a voice of reason- perhaps.

George beseeches the angry mob to remember that without the Savings & Loan, Potter would be able to keep the citizens of Bedford Falls in his slums, kicking out tenants who can't make their payments and that it was George, his father and uncle who made the dream of home ownership possible for those who would have otherwise been held under Potter's thumb (a more lovable Countrywide, if you will).

The fictional citizens in a 1946 film were striving for what the hard working people of present day America have been given- the powerful tool of credit; to obtain a better life, to strive and achieve more, to ultimaltely exceed their wildest dreams.

And with that excess, we are all learning what 'too much of a good thing' looks and feels like.

Thoughts for the Christmas season.