My New Blog

Having lived over 30 years in the small Western Pennsylvania town of Indiana, the home town of actor, Jimmy Stewart, one of my favorite Christmas movies is the 1946 classic, "It's A wonderful Life."  Most people know how the story goes.  George Bailey has the perfect life until on Christmas Eve, he encounters severe business difficulties and a financial crisis.  This leads George to contemplate suicide until he is saved at the last moment by the appearance of his guardian angel.  This angel convinces George how much his life means by showing him how the world would be without him.  It is a wonderful story bringing a lot of "hope" for the unknown future.

It has been said that "hope dies last."  During the Great Depression, Hoover was still president.  People had been living luxuriously and high off the hog.  Then came the CRASH.  It was so sudden, people ran around not knowing what to do; some jumped out of windows.  Then the people cried out after Roosevelt for the government fo help them out.  They asked for regulation . . . .  sound familiar?

But there were many people who "weathered the storm" in one way or another, just by lending others a hand.  People gave each other hope.  Once you become active in helping others, you feel alive again.  You become a different person and others are changed, too.  If we look around the world, we do still have a "wonderful life."  Even in cutting back, in the losses we are suffering, in the uncertainty of the future, we have more of a "wonderful life" than most other citizens of other countries. 

The lessons of the Great Depression?  Turn to others and take part in the community.  Hang on to hope in the future and bring hope to someone less fortunate; for without hope, we cannot make it.  It is true that "hope dies last."

Wishing you and your family a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!