Its a Beautiful Life A Look Back
I look forward to the holiday season each year, not to decorate the tree, but to take a few days, or even a few mental hours off, and refl ect a little bit on the past year. Over the holidays I had a chance to go to the Franklin Opera House with the family and see their play of “It’s a Beautiful Life” and it hit home.
If you remember the movie, you’ll remember the line “Every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings”, and may remember the movie’s plot about the local man who never made it big like his war hero brother but stayed behind in the small town and raised a family and worked in the local savings and loan bank helping his neighbors ward off the unscrupulous businessman who was trying to buy up the town. When that business man then stole money from the savings and loan and tried to frame this man he contemplated suicide and the angel showed him all the small steps he had made over his life that changed for the good many of the other lives he touched along the way.
We all interact with others every day. Did we smile at the cashier last night at the grocery store and thank the bagger who put our groceries in the cart, or did you grumble beneath your breath because the lines were long, and you were in a rush. Did we thank the bank teller and wish them a good day when they handled your deposit or ignore them and leave the bank as you were in a hurry to get home? Did we allow that motorist to back out from the parking space or just honk at them as you drove by?
Maybe that cashier was having a long day as her manager wouldn’t schedule enough help that day, the bank teller may have a sick loved one on her mind, that motorist just trying to get to school to pick up her children. Would a small gesture of kindness cost you much, would a return smile from them help make your day?
No, maybe we didn’t do anything this past year that forever changed the trajectory of another person’s life, or maybe we did – and we never even realized it.
For more on our story click: January 2018 newsletter
