By ROBIN STREICHLER
Kelly Stewart Harcourt’s Aug. 27 letter to the NYT Editor calls out the hypocrisy of an RNC speaker, Natalie Harp, comparing Trump to the character George Bailey whom Harcourt’s father played in the film, It’s a Wonderful Life. In her letter she wrote, “Given that this beloved classic is about decency, compassion, sacrifice and a fight against corruption, our family considers Ms. Harp’s analogy to be the height of hypocrisy and dishonesty.”
It is my belief this beloved 1946 American classic film has such amazing longevity because of its powerful message — that George Bailey’s life made a difference. The film shows us that if George Bailey had never been born, many lives would have been shattered and destroyed without his beneficence to uplift them, and the lovely small town of Bedford Falls would have devolved into the corrupt “Pottersville,” aptly named for the town’s most greedy and exploitative resident, Henry F. Potter.
What we may too easily overlook in this film is that in George Bailey’s absence, the town of Bedford Falls was easily taken over by Potter’s corrupt agenda. “How did that happen?” I asked myself. Why did the entire town go down the tubes in the absence of one man? And why was Potter unable to exert his evil influence over the town when George Bailey lived? These are the questions before each of us right now as we do our own soul searching regarding our own participation in our communities and elections.
I invite you to consider that there will always be Potters in the world. But, that is not why communities and societies turn dark and corrupt. The reason Bedford Falls deteriorated into Pottersville was that there were apparently no other “George Baileys” in the town to stop it. All the other people in that town allowed Potter’s corrupt ways to overcome its light and goodness. I am reminded of the quote attributed to the 18th Century Philosopher, Edmund Burke, which in essence states that all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.
Make no mistake, our country could be turning into one giant Pottersville before our eyes. Yet, each of us has the power to step into our own inner George Bailey and know that we are not powerless over the corruption and the decay of compassion in our society — that we do not have to turn a blind eye to all the modern-day “Potters” in our world who would do us harm while feeding their own power and pockets.
Like George, each of us can care for each other and our communities with generosity, participate in politics and raise our voices. Each of our lives can make a difference like George Bailey’s life made a difference, touching countless other lives. I believe that the real message of this film is one that can inspire each of us to show up to hold ourselves, our communities and country to the standards Ms. Stewart Harcourt so eloquently identified as “decency, compassion, sacrifice and a fight against corruption.”
Robin Streichler is a Los Angeles writer, editorial cartoonist and environmental health advocate. This originally appeared on Medium. See the original at <https://link.medium.com/N3ygGzLMT9>
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