Wednesday, May 21, 2008 Idealism, Part One By Rene Lizada Papa's Table
TO BE honest, I have been feeling low the past few days. There are days like these and the only thing that we can do is to go through the process. There is nothing else that we can do anyway. We just bear and hope it passes soon enough. Having said that let me share this with you.
About three weeks ago, I found this terrific place where you can get hard to find DVDs. As I scoured through the titles, I knew that I was going to run out of money that day. But never mind I thought, here were titles of movies that I had been searching for.
I like old movies. I love black and white films. And as I was searching for titles, one leaped from the row of titles. It was "It's A Wonderful Life." It starred James Stewart and Donna Reed. The movie was directed by Frank Capra.
The movie is about this man George Bailey who wanted to explore the world and was about to when their business needed him. And so he abandoned his dream to help the business. Instead his younger brother was the one who left, who fulfilled his dreams and returned a war hero.
Meantime, George was stuck in the town never to leave. But he helped a lot of people. His life was dedicated in helping the downtrodden. He never became rich because his needs and even that of his family's became secondary to the needs of others. He fought against a ruthless old businessman who just wanted to take and take. A selfish old man who manipulated others.
A man who used his money as a tool to make people crawling to him. But things happened and George was falling into bankruptcy and he was about to be arrested. So he contemplated suicide and was about to jump into the river when his angel, yes his angel in human form, jumped ahead. And being the good man that George was, he jumped in to save his angel.
They talked afterwards and George would not believe that it was his own guardian angel he had saved. George was in despair because of his problems and in his despair, he said the he wished that he had never been born.
The angel then decided to show him the consequences of his wish. The angel showed him a world without George Bailey. It was such a revealing and painful experience for him. His friends did not recognize him.
His brother whom he saved when they were children died. His own mother did not recognize him. His wife never married. He had no children, no wife, and no family. His town was a wretched place. It was such a painful experience that what he was facing was nothing compared to the world without George Bailey. In his anguish, he wished that he could go back to his world. It was granted and when he realized that he was so happy that his impending arrest was a relief.
Upon returning, he rushed to his home and tearfully embraced his children. His wife arrived together with all his friends. When his friends heard about his financial problems, they came and helped him. All the people he had helped came together and helped him. He then receives a note from his angel, saying: "no one is a failure who has friends."
We can get a lot of lessons from that movie. As for this moment and this time my lesson is simple.
In the book The Purpose Driven Life there is a chapter in that book that asks the question, what drives you? What is the force that propels you to do things?
Why do you act this way? What reason makes you do certain things? What are things you tolerate and what are circumstances that you will not let pass?
Some people are driven by ambition, by fame or wealth. Some want honor and popularity. Others, like George, do things because of service and compassion. People have different reasons. I have to admit that it took me sometime to answer that question. What really drives me to do the things I am doing. And I know now what drives me.
