A wonderful life

Taking advantage of my time off from class (which makes for freer evenings and weekends) I've been on a roll with my list and recently watched It's a Wonderful Life (#98) and wondered how it could be that I've never seen this movie. I also wondered how I could have been so completely wrong with my notions of what the movie was about--I thought it was a Scrooge story with George Bailey's character as Scrooge--you know--someone who is a downer on Christmas.

To me, this movie wasn't really about Christmas, or a Scrooge, but about someone who had dreams for their life, who sacrificed some of their dreams for the happiness of others, who believed in something greater than themselves, and who understood the power of people and the power of people working together working together for a common purpose. And in the end it wasn't the places he'd seen, or the things he'd done, but rather, it was the people in his life and who he was to those people that gave George all the joy and happiness he needed.

Perhaps these themes seemed even more poignant to me given the current economic climate, my own desire to travel and see the world, and the fact that my dad worked in a bank for all of my growing up years.

Whatever the case--I loved this movie. I'm glad I finally made a point to see it, and I'll try not to feel snubbed by others when they exclaim, "HOW could you get through 30 years and NEVER have seen It's a Wonderful Life?!?!?" (since this is what I've been asking myself too!).

If you've never seen it, I'd highly encourage you pick it up (add it to your Netflix queue, borrow from a friend, or pick up at your local library)--I guarantee you won't be disappointed.