“Dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me…show me the way…show me the way.”  George Bailey

Yes, it’s that time of year again.  Time for one of the greatest movies ever created to be aired numerous times for us to enjoy.  I am afraid that as time goes on this movie will lose it’s relevance if it hasn’t already.  Released in 1947 it became popular not just for it’s message but the audience had a very personal tie to the period the movie takes place – during the great depression.  Probably the lowest period of this Nation’s history surpassing even the war between the states; it was a time that we can not even begin to fathom what it was like to be an American.   It was a period when the common man lost faith in everything but most importantly themselves.  Americans of today can not and could not understand the depths that society sunk during that period.  Only in the inner cities do they experience the high unemployment that became the norm for the nation.  What is missing is the deprivation that many Americans suffered during that period.  But that deprivation proved to be the savior to America.  It formed a character trait that every American in the generation that grew up during those years; a personal toughness that carried them through the carnage of WWII.

Frank Capra had a talent that coincided with the 1930’s America.  He was considered the best at catching the plight of the “everyday” American during the Depression.  His other hits like Mr. Smith Goes To Washington also starred Jimmy Stewart and Meet John Doe  starring Gary Cooper had the same theme; the common man facing life and being by todays standards uncommonly moral.  Though I am not of that generation when I see these movies there is a connection I feel and a sadness knowing that period of time has gone never to return.  Life is considered simpler then but harder.  Our society today has made life appear much more sophisticated and complicated when it truly isn’t that way.  It is as simple and genuine as life in the 1930’s.  What is missing is the sense of a moral value that is embraced as a society.  There is so much clutter that is placed in our way to distract  us that we have turned down paths that should not be accessible let alone acceptable.  After a while we turn around and realize how lost we are and for many it is too late so they continue on while others stand in place lost, confused and scratching their head.  Others see the lifelines they can grab and pull themselves back and Capra movies provide one of those lifelines.  Life is simple and life is beautiful.  And there is nothing like an old black and white film to prove it.