I am George Bailey.
I can at least relate to every phase of his wonderful life.
The ups, the downs. The ins and outs. Hope, fear, depression, prayer, loss, confusion, and immense
happiness.
When I watch It’s A Wonderful Life I am able to dig through my own story.
I feel like I am watching myself in black and white.
I
am sad with him. I am scared with him. I tear up when his friends and
family come together to help him in the end. His realization that life
really is wonderful. It is such a beautiful moment. They love him, and
he finally knows it.
The Opportunity Of A Lifetime
He was given something that is so powerful in life: a chance to see it all go away.
Everything
he had worked so hard for. Everything he loved. Everything he had ever
known, was gone. He could see it, feel it, and breathe it in. He felt it
in his core, and it changed him.
Why
did it change him? Because it shook his world so badly he could never
go back to the way it was. Nothing would ever be the same. He was honest
enough, brought low enough, and vulnerable enough to embrace the
opportunity.
We
get those glimpses like these ourselves, but do we take advantage of
them the way George Bailey did? Our opportunities of dramatic,
life-changing moments?
Heart attacks. Divorce. Cheating, Strokes. DUIs. ODs. Debt. Loss. Depression. Cancer. Death.
Something has to change after something like that, right?
We get slapped in the face with reality all the time. Shouldn’t it change us like it changed George?
Everything was different once he had that opportunity, and embraced it.
Man,
I watch that movie and know exactly where he is mentally in every
single one of those scenes.
It hurts so much. It is so scary. So empty.
So dark. Then so happy.
The anger, the fear, the bridge.
I’ve been in every one of those places.
The joy, the happiness, the love.
I’ve felt it all.
It changes you.
It has to, doesn’t it?
Washed Clean
When
you receive a cold dose of reality, everything becomes clear. What’s
real, what’s fake. Who’s real, who’s fake. What’s important, what’s a
waste of time. It all comes in to focus.
The bigger the hurt, the deeper the cut, the clearer it is.
The pain disorienting.
The clarity is immense.
These
reality checks let us know who we really are. They hurt because we know
ourselves less than we care to admit (or can admit), and reality
doesn’t hit softly. Things we do, people we surround ourselves with, our
jobs, they all pull and prod us in to things or people we may not be,
and may not want to be. We get on a path and just stay there, rarely
evaluating and auditing why we are there, how we got there, and if we
should stay.
George
was not an unhappy man at first, but he let himself lose sight of what
was important. He allowed himself to become that angry old man. The
dreams of his youth were nearly gone. He had a job he didn’t really
want, but he had an amazing family, a wonderful house, and a job he
could be proud of. That doesn’t sound so bad. I bet if he could have had
a choice of what he wanted when he was younger, he would have been very
happy with where he was as an adult.
Are you happy with where you are?
Has reality been trying to tell you something?
Do you appreciate what you have?
Are you able to distinguish the good from the bad? Right and wrong?
If you can’t, your very own Clarence (the guardian angel) is coming. I guarantee it.
Believe
me when I tell you it will hurt. If will feel like you are going to
die. You will want to die. You will be on the bridge, staring at the
freezing water, ready to jump. Then Clarence shows up, and it gets worse
before it gets better. Reality is a wrecking ball (not unlike Miley
Cyrus, but with more clothes on. Usually). It’s painful. It pulls apart
of your life so you expose your guts. Splayed out on the table, for
everyone to see. But most importantly, for you to see.
Can’t look?
Too hideous?
Too disgusting?
Look.
You need to see it in order to know what is really there.
It doesn’t have to be like that anymore.
Keep the good. Discard the bad.
You have been given the gift of clarity, but you are the one that chooses to uses it or not.
You
know people that don’t. You see them all the time. It is so sad. They
keep digging their hole deeper and deeper. Reality is slapping them in
the face and they pretend like it never happened. Don’t be that person.
Be George Bailey. Recognize where you were wrong. Where you were broken.
Embrace your faults and then commit to fixing them.
Look to tomorrow and know it really is A Wonderful Life.
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Change starts from within.
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